Suggested Comment - ICANN Reserve Fund

Mon Nov 13 05:48:52 EET 2017

Hi Arsene,

You are welcome to propose edits to the text directly. The Google Doc is open for all to edit and shape, and I note that you managed to comment on another one roughly 30 minutes ago. As a reminder, this is just proposed text and of course not yet endorsed by the NCSG, so nothing is final and edits are still possible. That being said, if I may politely suggest you first read the supporting material which I linked to in my initial email, it might be helpful to see what it is that ICANN is requesting that we comment on.

Thanks,

Ayden

> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: Suggested Comment - ICANN Reserve Fund
> Local Time: 13 November 2017 10:33 AM
> UTC Time: 13 November 2017 10:33
> From: arsenebaguma at GMAIL.COM
> To: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>
> Hi Ayden,
>
> Thanks for pulling together this comment.
>
> I am sending here few comments as my network doesn’t allow me to work
> on the Google doc now. I don’t have a very good background with
> finances or budgets, but I will try to share few comments bellow.
>
> First, I am in total agreement with you that ICANN should not consider
> taking away from the new gTLD Auction Proceeds funds as these should
> not seek to cover ICANN’s operating expenses but support external
> projects that align with ICANN’s mission. This discussion has been
> happening in the AP WG and that was my point as well.
>
> “However, given the organisation’s unusual risk profile, we would
> encourage the organisation to set a target level for the Reserve Fund
> of a minimum of 24 months of operating expenses.”
>
> Is there any reason why you are requesting this, Ayden?
>
> If the org is failing to keep the fund to a minimum of 12 months, I
> think it is asking too much for now (though it would be great if they
> are able to) to ask them to keep a minimum of 24 months. I would
> suggest this comment to focus on helping them to be able to stick and
> ensure they remain with a minimum of 12 months as they have been doing
> trying to do since 2007.
>
> “However, there are many ways in which ICANN could cut funding”
>
> Thanks for suggesting some ways ICANN can cut down some of its
> expenses and call them on being more responsible with the way they
> make expenses. Many of these suggestions are valid after a quick look
> but need to be looked at in deep in order to ensure we all have the
> same opinion as the NCSG.
>
> I do agree with a comment I read that these can be more relevant
> suggestions with regards to the Operating Funds not the Reserve Funds.
> Can we work on another comment in the future (not sure whether there
> is an open comment on Operating Funds) and present these arguments
> instead?
>
> I know you have personal reasons or strong opinions with regards to
> the Fellowship program but I don’t think this is the right place to
> present that because there is no general agreement within the NCSG on
> what needs to be our response with regards to the Fellowship program
> and its expenses. I am sure many of us agree that there is a need to
> review this program though. I think this can be the subject of a
> different discussion that needs to happen before we can present it as
> the NCSG opinion.
>
> With regards to GSE expenses, I would appreciate to have a reference
> that supports this claim or if you could expand more here on what you
> mean because this can be seen as a pure claim with no evidences. Are
> you saying that the GSE is making expenses for activities that are out
> of ICANN’s remit?
>
> I would not like to sound like commenting on all these suggested ways
> for ICANN to cut its expenses but I think for an NCSG comment, we may
> need to base our current and future comments on issues we have openly
> discussed on the list and where we seemed to have an agreement and
> only have been waiting for an opportunity to make them public as a
> stance.
>
> So, I would strongly suggest that we don’t make suggestions (unless
> someone has other suggestions) and stick to the fact that ICANN should
> carefully look at the way they make expenses in their operations and
> use some of the remainder to replenish the Reserve Funds. I wish I was
> able to provide more.
>
> I would like to thank you, Ayden for holding the pen here again
> (something many of us here are not yet able to do) but I would call
> for caution that we should not seek to use NCSG to channel personal
> opinions. I would instead encourage whenever we have a concern or an
> opinion over something, to raise it with the membership, discuss it
> and then when there is an opportunity to publicly address them, then
> we can use NCSG voice to raise them.
>
> Thank you very much,
> Arsene
>
> 2017-11-12 14:46 UTC+02:00, Carlos Raul Gutierrez crg at isoc-cr.org:
>
>> Dear Ayden,
>> thanks a lot for this excellent draft, which by the way updated me and gave
>> me a very good picture of the whole discussion.
>> Based on my own experience, ICANN high dependency on a stream of fees
>> directly related to the size of the DNS market is a problem of capture in
>> waiting. Most entities that deal with such dynamic markets (I'm no going to
>> use the word) tend to prefer vaccinate themselves from the illusion of an
>> endless source of income, by developing a cost based budget first, and
>> justifying every year its budget to the providers of income, instead of
>> defending a TAX or cut of their business.
>> My humble suggestion is that within your suggestion that the Board would
>> think a little bit harder about this issue, we include the general notion
>> of a cost based budgeting system, as an important step to reduce the risk
>> of inflated expectations about the growth potential of the DNS market of
>> the present tax based system. Some new gTLDs are not sustainable under the
>> present cost structure of the ICANN Corporation, and it would be a pity to
>> limit the innovation and openness of the DNS just because its structure is
>> so expensive to maintain.
>> Thanks again for your work and considering my ideas.
>> Carlos Raúl Gutiérrez
>> ISOC Costa Rica Chapter
>> skype carlos.raulg
>> +506 8837 7176
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Apartado 1571-1000
>> COSTA RICA
>> On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 2:28 PM, Ayden Férdeline icann at ferdeline.com
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>> I have drafted a response on behalf of the NCSG regarding ICANN's Reserve
>>> Fund. The call for public comments and supporting documentation can be
>>> found
>>> here https://www.icann.org/public-comments/reserve-fund-2017-10-12-en.
>>> The proposed comment that I have drafted is on Google Docs here
>>> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WJICv5BgHyBIo_o3twOkK0BZDyALIvZYjKXiY5s3RgI/edit?usp=sharing.
>>> This is a rough draft; your comments will be instrumental in shaping the
>>> final version, if the NCSG choses to submit one. But for now I welcome
>>> your
>>> constructive edits to the text. Thank you.
>>> —Ayden
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Arsène Tungali http://about.me/ArseneTungali
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