ICANN Action based on Content Issues

[Sam Lanfranco]

NCSG Colleagues,

This discussion of ICANN responsibility around content issues raises an 
important ICANN constituency issue that was underscored by CEO Fadi’s 
comments at the intersessional meetings in Washington a couple of weeks 
ago. As one of his advances in ICANN administration FADI talked about 
instituting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). They included looking at 
how successful ICANN outreach is in bringing new volunteer labor into 
ICANN’s internal activities. I offered the comment that part of ICANN 
outreach, and certainly part of NPOC’s outreach, is to raise awareness 
and engagement in Internet ecosystem issues, be those issues inside 
ICANN or outside ICANN. However, outreach efforts that energize 
constituencies to get involved in Internet governance and Internet 
ecosystem issues outside ICANN won’t register on Fadi’s ICANN KPIs.

When one looks closely at the list of content issues where ICANN might 
be under pressure to take policy positions, one finds that in most cases 
ever if ICANN tried to engage in policy ICANN’s scope for effective 
policy is extremely limited. In most cases the issues involve national 
laws, and national action, or multilateral collaborative action.

It may be that placing content issues at the doorstep of ICANN is a sign 
that there is a need for more constituency education. Outside the walls 
of ICANN there is need for a broader and deeper Internet ecosystem 
stakeholder understanding of the relationship between content issues and 
the appropriate policy windows for addressing those issues. This is a 
potential area for cooperation between ICANN constituency activities and 
those of the IGF. Such activities are not primarily focused on 
recruiting for ICANN, but are focused on broader and deeper stakeholder 
engagement that brings content issues to the appropriate non-ICANN 
policy windows.

Sam Lanfranco, Chair, NPOC Policy Committee
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