ICANN President & CEO Busy Rearranging Deck Chairs on the Titanic

ICANN President & CEO busy rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic:

I’ve made some small changes to the #ICANN org Executive Team, a promotion and a new role. Read more in my blog: https://t.co/Z0Q9Cj6gkr

— ICANN President (@icann_president) October 4, 2016

This is the problem when the ICANN Board of Directors replaced former ICANN President & CEO Fadi Chehade (who quit in March, 2016, 3½ years into a 5-year contract), with a complete stranger to ICANN, Goran Marby of Sweden, who had no prior experience in any aspect of ICANN, nor any of its three "communities"--domain names, numbers (RIRs), protocols (IETF).

Marby, who started as ICANN President & CEO in May of this year, was previously Director-General of the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority. Shortly after his appointment was announced in February, 2016, the ICANN Board members, and other ICANN insiders, appeared unaware and surprised when Domain Mondo pointed to reports out of Sweden indicating Marby's temperament and leadership style might be incompatible with ICANN's collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach to internet governance, resulting in a press conference--MP3 audio archived here and here--in which a Bloomberg BNA reporter asked Marby (@3:45 in the audio) about one of those reports, quoting a Swedish telecom operator that Marby's style was "lacking in transparency," and "threatening."

Perhaps that is why Marby has kept a low profile at ICANN but for his recent appearance before U.S. Senator Ted Cruz's (R-TX) recent Subcommittee Hearing in Washington, D.C., (video), where Marby, under grilling by Cruz, looked like a "deer caught in the headlights."

Clearly, it will take Marby at least a year, if not two, before he is no longer "wet behind the ears" when it comes to being President & CEO of ICANN. Unfortunately, that has given ICANN insiders, who are part of the organization's culture problem, ample time to indoctrinate Marby, who may be completely unaware of ICANN's systemic dysfunction and other problems, including the fact that it was the "ICANN community" alone (not NTIA, ICANN Board members, management or staff), who insisted on the accountability component of the IANA stewardship transition.

This may be evident in Marby's list of his ICANN Executive Team Members as of October 4, 2016, see list below with asterisks marking members who are a known *crony of former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé & ICANN GDD President Akram Atallah. Atallah reportedly got his "old friend" Chehadé the CEO job at ICANN, and in turn, was appointed by Chehadé to the second-highest paying position at ICANN which provides Atallah a total annual compensation + benefits package approaching $1,000,000 in value--who says you can't "profit" from a "non-profit" corporation--move over Bill and Hillary!

ICANN Executive Team Members (Oct 4, 2016):

Göran Marby; *Akram Atallah; *Allen Grogan; *Ashwin Rangan; David Conrad; Diane Schroeder; Duncan Burns; John Jeffrey; Sally Costerton; *Susanna Bennett; Tarek Kamel; Theresa Swinehart; Xavier Calvez.

This list contains many of the same ICANN team members in charge when the ICANN community expressed such dissatisfaction with ICANN leadership and insisted on the ICANN accountability components now known as Work Stream 1 (WS1) and Work Stream 2 (WS2). Compounding the problem, the ICANN Board of Directors has been dysfunctional and failed to properly oversee ICANN management and staff, leading to such embarrassments as the IRP Declarations in the DotConnectAfrica Trust (DCA Trust) and Dot Registry cases.

Maybe ICANN wasn't really ready for the IANA transition.

See also ICANN Management Organization Chart 01Oct2016: management-org-01oct16-en.pdf (pdf) embed below:


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DISCLAIMER

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz vs ICANN and IANA Transition: Veni, Vidi, Vici?

Sen. Cruz's Opening Statement at Protecting Internet Freedom Subcommittee Hearing, Sept 14:

Video above: US Senator Cruz's Opening Statement at Protecting Internet Freedom Subcommittee Hearing September 14, 2016 (transcript further below). See also on Domain Mondo: IANA Transition Hearing: Implications of Ending US Oversight of the Internet for the witnesses' (prepared) testimony, and the full hearing video replay link.

Say what you will, it was Subcommittee Chairman Ted Cruz's hearing from beginning to end. He came prepared with charts, even warning NTIA employees, including NTIA's Larry Strickling, that violating the Federal Antideficiency Act could end their careers and incur prison sentences of up to 2 years. At times, it even seemed as if ICANN's former President and CEO Fadi Chehade was on trial in absentia (see photos below).

While it may have been entertaining D.C. drama for some, what effect, if any, it will have on the IANA stewardship transition (scheduled to be complete October 1), is yet to be seen. TheHill.com reports it is not clear just how much support there is for Cruz’s position among Republicans though Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) was quoted as saying:

"We’re working trying to coordinate with Cruz and others who have concerns about the [IANA] transition ... I think that right now we all want that on September 30 that transition does not occur because we don’t think it’s ready yet. He may have a different endgame than we do, but right now our objective is the same."

U.S. Senate Subcommittee Hearing September 14, 2016

Transcript of US Senator Cruz's Opening Statement at Protecting Internet Freedom Subcommittee Hearing September 14, 2016 via YouTube.com:

0:00  the internet is one of the most revolutionary forces ever unleashed on
0:05  the world this transformational technology has changed how we learn how
0:10  we communicate how we do commerce how we live our lives people even meet and get
0:17  married through the internet and of course the internet didn't invent itself
0:23  it wasn't invented by any politicians it was invented by the incredible ingenuity
0:30  of the American people with the financial support of american taxpayers
0:35  in the spirit of freedom and generosity that is the essence of our great nation
0:41  the American people didn't try to keep the internet just for themselves but
0:45  made it available for the benefit of all humanity since the internets inception
0:51  the United States government has stood guard over critical internet functions
0:56  in almost any other country that power could have been used to deny internet
1:01  access to websites that were deemed politically undesirable or unpopular on
1:07  or threatening or simply disfavored by the powers that be but not here not in
1:15  the United States because of the first amendment to our Constitution which
1:19  affords more protection for speech than anywhere else in the world the United
1:24  States government as long as it has authority to oversee the infrastructure
1:30  of the internet has a duty to ensure that no website is denied internet
1:35  access on account of the ideas that espouses under the guardianship of the
1:41  United States and the First Amendment the Internet has become truly an oasis
1:45  of freedom but that could soon change in 16 days without seeking the consent of
1:53  the American people without seeking the consent of Congress the Obama
1:58  administration is stated that it intends to relinquish the government its
2:01  historic guardianship and give it instead to an international body known
2:07  as ICANN
2:07  now what is ICANN
2:10  it is not a democratic body it is a corporation with Byzantine governing
2:16  structure designed to blur the lines of accountability that is run by global
2:21  bureaucrats who are supposedly accountable to the technocrats to
2:26  multinational corporations to governments including some of the most
2:30  oppressive regimes in the world like China Iran and Russia sadly ICANN
2:38  officials have already begun showing extraordinary affinity for China the
2:42  world's worst abusers of Internet freedom
2:45  according to Freedom House and 2015 numerous I can gathering to feature
2:50  Chinese officials responsible for Chinese government censorship and
2:54  propaganda ICANN's recently departed president/ceo Fadi Chehade who shepherded
3:04  the transition plan through the Obama administration made China a central focus
3:10  within ICANN and the future of that organization Mr. Chehade is on record
3:16  saying that quote  ...  "engagement with China is not an option
3:21  if we do not engage with China at every level of our community we frankly lose a
3:27  part of our global legitimacy." It is striking that an organization we are
3:34  being told we should trust with control of the internet believes that legitimacy
3:39  depends upon engaging in a regime that is the world's leading censor on the
3:44  internet silencing speech on the internet and that imprisons democracy
3:50  and human rights advocate and nobel laureate ... not surprisingly Mr.
3:59  Chehade left ICANN after the transition plan was approved to lead a high-level
4:03  working group for wait for it
4:07  China's World Internet Conference
4:11  a conference that was rightly criticized for refusing to let New York Times and
4:16  Washington Post reporters cover it as a result Reporters Without Borders
4:22  demanded a boycott calling China an enemy of the internet and yet we are
4:28  being asked to trust an organization without having our government have the
4:34  authority to protect free speech to trust an organization whose former
4:38  leader who shepherded this plan has gone to associate himself with and stand with
4:44  those who are in the words of reporters without borders the enemy of the
4:49  internet once the government's out of the picture
4:56  First Amendment protections go away the first amendment by its term binds the
5:02  government doesn't bind private individuals that means when I can
5:06  escapes from government authority ICANN can escape from having to worry about
5:11  the First Amendment having to worry about protecting your rights or my
5:14  rights
5:15  imagine an Internet run like one of our large private universities today with
5:25  speech codes and safe zones an internet that determine some terms are too scary
5:33  microaggressions are two troubling we will not allow them to be spoken on the
5:37  Internet
5:37  imagine an Internet run like far too many European countries that punish
5:45  so-called hate speech a notoriously malleable concept that has often
5:52  been used to suppress views disfavored by those in power are imagine an
5:58  Internet run by like many Middle Eastern countries that punish what they deem to
6:05  be blasphemy
6:07  imagine an Internet run like China or Russia that punish and incarcerate those
6:15  who engage in political dissent. Now some will say none of that parade of horrible
6:22  will happen there's nothing to fear here in handing control of the internet to
6:27  this international group of stakeholders this mini-UN well that's what this
6:34  hearing is here to determine--is there something to fear--and i will point out a
6:45  question I think a lot of Americans are asking is: why risk it?
6:50  the internet right now works it's not broken
6:54  what is the problem that is trying to be solved here that's what this hearing is
7:02  about ...

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DISCLAIMER

ICANN Answers Questions About The IANA Stewardship Transition

Timely and informative, ICANN has posted a Q&A about the IANA Stewardship Transition, full version at the ICANN.org link further below, excerpts follow after the following DomainMondo.com introductory note:

[Note--In answering Question 7 below, ICANN failed to pose and answer the real underlying Question: Under what circumstances, and how, could ICANN decide to relocate outside the United States and/or change its principal legal jurisdiction or place of incorporation in the future? In 2014, ICANN's then President and CEO Fadi Chehadé told a panel of the French Senate that the ICANN Board of Directors had given a "green light" to possibly creating a "parallel ICANN international structure, likely based in Geneva ..." See Will ICANN Board Disclose New Swiss Legal Structure at ICANN 50? | DomainMondo.com citing Will ICANN Be The Next International Organisation In Geneva? | ip-watch.org and the actual video (in French)--note Chehade's reference to "green light" @2:35 and what he says at that point (English translation here). See also: Why ICANN CEO Chehade quit early | IoN magazine: "... he [Chehade] told a panel in the French Senate that ICANN’s new European office could lead to moving ICANN’s headquarters outside the United States; only to say the exact opposite when in Washington DC just a few weeks later." 

Chehadé, who for unknown reasons resigned effective March 12, 2016, after serving only 3½ years as ICANN President & CEO (14 Sep 2012-12 Mar 2016), announced at ICANN's NCPH Intersessional session, January 29, 2013:

",,, welcome to LA, welcome to ICANN. This is the last time you'll come to the ICANN headquarters because soon we will no longer have one headquarters, we'll have three headquarters around the world ..."

--end of Note.]

Answering some of your questions on the stewardship transition  ICANN.org: "... Some questions remain about the nature of the IANA functions, ICANN, and the likely impacts of the transition and we [ICANN] wanted to answer them for you in one place.

1. Does the transition threaten Internet freedom?

No. The United States Government's contract with ICANN does not give the U.S. any power to regulate or protect speech on the Internet. The IANA functions are technical – not content – based ... 

2. Will countries be able to censor speech on the Internet after the transition?

No more so than they can today. Right now, there is nothing about ICANN or its contract with the U.S. Government that prevents a country from censoring or blocking content within its own borders. ICANN is a technical organization and does not have the remit or ability to regulate content on the Internet ... 

3. Will ICANN be more susceptible to capture by a single entity after the transition?

No. ICANN's multistakeholder model is designed to ensure that no single entity, whether country, business or interest group, can capture ICANN or exclude other parties from decision-making processes. Features of this model include open processes where anyone can participate, decisions made by consensus, established appeals mechanisms, and transparent and public meetings. These elements are all reinforced in the community transition proposal and have been building blocks for the free and open Internet we see today ... 

4. Will ICANN seek oversight by the U.N. to maintain its antitrust exemption after the transition?

No. ICANN is not, and never has been exempted from antitrust laws. ICANN has not been granted an antitrust exemption through any of its contracts with NTIA or the U.S. Department of Commerce. No court ruling in favor of ICANN has ever cited an antitrust exemption to support its ruling. This past July,NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling addressed the concerns about the possible antitrust liability of a post-transition ICANN and reaffirmed that "ICANN always has and will continue to be subject to antitrust laws." After the transition, ICANN will have no mandate, need or reason to seek to be overseen by another governmental or inter-governmental group for protection ... 

5. Will governments have more control over the Internet after the transition?

No. The transition proposal does not increase the role of governments over the Internet or ICANN as an organization. The multistakeholder model appropriately limits the influence of governments and intergovernmental organizations to an advisory role in policy development. More than 160 governments actively participate as a single committee and must come to a consensus before policy advice can be issued. After the transition, there will be times where the ICANN Board must give special consideration to the public policy advice of governments. However, this will only happen when there is no objection from any government in the committee – which includes the United States. This is a stricter requirement than is currently in place for government advice.

6. Does delaying the transition by one or two years have any negative consequences?

Yes, any delay of the transition could have significant global consequences. The Internet is a voluntary, trust-based system. A delay would introduce uncertainty, for businesses and other stakeholders, which could have long-term business, social, cultural, political and economic impacts. This past March, U.S. Ambassador David Gross testified that, "the clearest impact [of a delay] is on the broader, global community. It will signal that the U.S. has changed its position and no longer believes in a private-sector led internet and that governments will play a primary role in making the final decision. Russia, China, and others will welcome such a decision."...

7. Will ICANN relocate its headquarters outside of the United States after the transition?

No. ICANN will not relocate its corporate headquarters location after the transition. The transition proposal clearly states [PDF, 2.32 MB] that "the legal jurisdiction in which ICANN resides is to remain unchanged." California law is the basis for the new mechanisms created to empower the ICANN community and hold ICANN the organization, Board and community, accountable. In addition, ICANN's Articles of Incorporation are filed under California law, and its Bylaws state that ICANN's headquarters are in California.

8. Is it illegal to allow the transition to move forward without congressional approval because it is a transfer of U.S. property?

No. ICANN is not aware of any U.S. Government property that would be transferred as a result of the transition. In a letter to Chairman Grassley and Chairman Goodlatte [PDF, 1.25 MB] last month, NTIA stated that the Department of Commerce Office of General Counsel conducted a legal review of this issue and advised NTIA that transition would not result in the transfer of U.S. Government property, and that, in the view of the Department, the authoritative root zone file is not U.S. Government property.

9. Will the U.S. lose exclusive rights to the .mil and .gov top-level domains as a result of the transition?

The operation of and responsibility for .mil and .gov are not impacted by this transition. .mil and .gov cannot be reassigned without express approval from the U.S. Government. To formally reaffirm this,NTIA and ICANN exchanged a series of letters in June 2016, which establish the U.S. Government as the administrative authority over the .mil, .gov, .us, and .edu top-level domains. This means that any changes made to these top-level domains can only be made with the express written approval of the U.S. Government.

10. Will Verisign have the ability to raise prices of .com domain names on 1 October 2016 as a result of the transition?

No. The cost of .com domains is capped at $7.85 until 30 November 2018. The current pricing of the .com registry is defined by two separate contracts (1) the .com Registry Agreement between Verisign and ICANN; and (2) the Cooperative Agreement between Verisign and the Department of Commerce. After 2018, Verisign and NTIA will have to negotiate to change the terms for the Cooperative Agreement or agree to end the Cooperative Agreement before discussing new pricing of the .com domain with ICANN. In letters [PDF, 851 KB] to Chairman Cruz, Chairman Lee, and Chairman Duffy last week, the Assistant Attorney General stated that, consistent with past practices, it is expected that NTIA will seek the advice of the U.S. Department of Justice on any competition issues implicated by the extension of these two contracts.

11. Do the recent independent review process (IRP) decisions regarding applications for new generic top level domains prove that ICANN is not sufficiently transparent or accountable enough for the transition?

No. An IRP is an accountability mechanism used to review and resolve a concern raised by the community over a policy decision made by ICANN. Any result from an IRP, whether positive or negative, demonstrates that the system of checks and balances built into the ICANN multistakeholder model works. The IRP has been enhanced to strengthen ICANN's commitment to employ open, transparent, bottom-up, multistakeholder processes after the transition.

12. Does ICANN have an operational relationship with the Chinese government?

No. ICANN does not have any operational relationship with the Chinese Government. ICANN's engagement center in China is one of seven around the world. The presence of an ICANN engagement center or operational hub within a country does not imply any level of support for the nation's government or its policies.

See also on Domain Mondo:

• Senate & House Chairmen's Letter to Attorney General & Commerce Sec.
• US Senator Cruz Attacks ICANN, Fadi Chehadé, IANA Transition (video)
• Fadi Chehadé, Will ICANN Move to Switzerland? (2014 video)

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DISCLAIMER

US Senator Cruz Attacks ICANN, Fadi Chehadé, IANA Transition (video)

US Senator Ted Cruz Urges Colleagues to "Stop Obama's Internet Giveaway"

Video above: U.S. Senator Cruz (R-Texas) took to the U.S. Senate floor Thursday, September 8, 2016, to give a speech against the Obama Administration's plan (and by implication, NTIA), to give away control of the Internet to an international body [ICANN] akin to the United Nations, singling out specifically, for criticism, ICANN's former President and CEO Fadi Chehadé:

“You look at the influence of foreign governments within ICANN, it should give us greater and greater concern.

“For example, ICANN’s former CEO Fadi Chehadé left ICANN to lead a high-level working group for China’s World Internet Conference. Mr. Chehadé’s decision to use his insider knowledge of how ICANN operates to help the Chinese government and their conference is more than a little concerning.

“This is the person who was leading ICANN, the body that we are being told to trust with our freedoms. Yet this man has since gone to work for the Chinese Internet Conference, which has rightly been criticized for banning members of the press such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.

“But you know what, even reporters you may fundamentally disagree with have a right to report and say what they believe. And yet, the World Internet Conference banned them – said ‘we do not want these reporters here, presumably, because we don’t like what they’re saying.’ – which led Reporters Without Borders to demand an international boycott of the conference, calling China the ‘enemy of the Internet.’ Mr. President, if China is the enemy of the Internet, do we want the enemy of the Internet having power over what you’re allowed to say, what you’re allowed to search for, what you’re allowed to read online? Do we want China, and Russia, and Iran having the power to determine if a website is unacceptable, it’s taken down?

“I would note that once this transition happens, there are serious indications that ICANN intends to seek to flee U.S. jurisdiction and flee U.S. laws. Indeed, earlier this summer, ICANN held a global conference in Finland in which jurisdiction shopping was part of their agenda, trying to figure out what jurisdiction should we base control of the Internet out of across the globe.

“A representative of Iran is already on record stating, ‘[w]e should not take it [for] granted that jurisdiction is already agreed to be totally based on U.S. law.’ Our enemies are not hiding what they intend to do.

“Not only is there a concern of censorship and foreign jurisdictions stripping U.S. law from authority over the Internet, there are also real national security concerns. Congress has received no assurances from the Obama administration that the U.S. Government will continue to have exclusive ownership and control of the .gov and .mil top-level domains in perpetuity, which are vital to our national security. The Department of Defense, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines all use the .mil top-level domain. The White House, the CIA, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security all use .gov.

“The only assurance ICANN has provided the federal government regarding .gov and .mil is that ICANN will notify the government in the future if it decides to give .gov and .mil to another entity. So if someone is going to the IRS, or what you think is the IRS, and you’re comforted that it’s on a .gov website so that you know it must be safe, you may instead find yourself victims of a foreign scam, a phishing scam, some other means of fraud with no basic protections.

“Congress should not sit by and let this happen. Congress must not sit by and let censorship happen ..." (emphasis added, full speech embedded below)

For more on former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé's shenanigans in China at the World Internet Conference, see on Domain Mondo: After Wuzhen, Should ICANN President & CEO Fadi Chehade Be Fired?:

"... Beyond the embarrassment and distracting spectacle that Fadi Chehade has brought upon ICANN at a critical juncture in its IANA transition planning, there are 2 aspects of Chehade's Wuzhen fiasco at play here which should be of concern to the ICANN Board and the "ICANN community"--1. That Fadi Chehade continuing as ICANN CEO, even for a few weeks until March 12, 2016, puts at risk the entire IANA transition process, from ... alarmed Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C. ..."

The IANA stewardship transition is scheduled to become effective October 1, 2016, upon expiration of the IANA functions contract which ends September 30, 2016, as previously indicated by NTIA--see  NTIA Tells ICANN: IANA Functions Contract Will Expire October 1, 2016. In Washington, D.C., TheHill.com has reported that next Wednesday, Cruz plans to hold a hearing on "Protecting Internet Freedom" and that Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) said Republicans in both chambers [U.S. House and U.S. Senate] were "discussing options" to "stop the transition from moving forward as part of a broader legislative package this month." See also: GOP chairmen ask administration to reconsider ICANN transition | TheHill.com Sept 8, 2016: "Signing on to the letter were Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.), Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.)." --UPDATE: See Senate & House Chairmen's Letter to Attorney General & Commerce Sec. and ICANN Answers Questions About The IANA Stewardship Transition.

Transcript (pdf) of Senator Cruz's full speech embedded below:



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DISCLAIMER

News Review: ICANN, China, IANA: ex-CEO Fadi Chehadé's Sad Legacy

Domain Mondo's review of the past week and look ahead [pdf of this post is here]:

What's happening in the IANA Transition?

• This past week, U.S. Senators Cruz, Lankford and Lee, exchanged letters with ICANN Board Chairman Steve Crocker, fundamentally about conflicts of interest within ICANN, and principally the influence of foreign governments, specifically, the ICANN CEO (now ex-CEO) Fadi Chehade agreeing in December, 2015, to co-chair the High-level Advisory Committee to China's World Internet Conference (WIC) held the last 2 years in Wuzhen, China. Crocker, in his letter of response, wrote a rambling defense and justification of Chehade's conduct without answering any of the Senators' specific questions, essentially admitting that neither he, nor any other member of the ICANN Board of Directors, saw any potential conflict of interest nor anything inappropriate in Chehade attending (while still President and CEO of ICANN), the WIC on ICANN's 'dime' and announcing, via his ICANN President Twitter account, his acceptance of  the offer to Co-Chair the High-level Advisory Committee, thereby, in the eyes of many, lending his support and endorsement, as ICANN CEO, to the objectives of WIC and China's internet governance agenda:

"To whom is the Advisory Committee which Chehade and the others are joining giving advice? It is the World Internet Conference Organizing Committee Secretariat, a CCP [Communist Party of China] organ .... Our opinion is that the advisory committee members are making a mistake. Like so many deluded businessmen and politicians before them, they think that being friendly and cooperative with the [Chinese] regime will either gain themselves privileged access to the market, or will somehow change the basic principles and policy direction of the Chinese state. It may do the first (though it is unlikely) but it certainly will not do the latter. The WIC is intended to justify and advocate a more repressive Internet ... Rather than contesting ideas on a terrain in which internet freedom, bottom up initiative and openness have an advantage, they have foolishly chosen to play the conference diplomacy game on a terrain chosen by the Chinese Communist Party..." --Georgia Tech Professor, Dr. Milton Mueller, December 29, 2015, The Wuzhen Compradors (note: Dr. Mueller has been active in ICANN since its formation in 1998, and is co-founder of its Noncommercial Users constituency).

Read more, including the latest letter from the U.S. Senators and Crocker's reply letter, at ICANN Sends Letter To US Senators But Does NOT Answer Questions | DomainMondo.com, which also references a transcript of the NCPH Intersessional Meeting  at ICANN, February 5, 2016, wherein "ICANN community" stakeholders recognized the real or potential conflict of interest issue in ICANN CEO Chehade's activities in China, and assumed that one or more ICANN Board members had already referred the matter to ICANN's Office of General Counsel as required by ICANN Policy on conflicts of interest.

Those intersessional transcripts [Feb. 4-5, 2016] provide even more insight into the sad legacy that ex-CEO Fadi Chehadé left behind at ICANN--excerpts below--emphasis and links added:

Stakeholder to Fadi Chehade: "... You were talking about what we need to do better. And obviously we need to get more people engaged. It’s certainly been my observation in the three years I’ve been at ICANN that there’s a massive power imbalance. And while I agree we need to get more people engaged, it doesn’t necessarily empower them, particularly in civil society ..."

Stakeholder: "... The concerns raised by many in the [ICANN] community indicate that the existing GNSO [ICANN's main policy-making body, the Generic Names Supporting Organization] structure and operating plans do not yet meet stakeholder expectations. Recent statements made by various stakeholders suggest that current ICANN structure [GNSO] needs to be reviewed, and if need be, improved, amended, replaced or supplemented with new mechanisms ... our house [NCPH] suffers more from the structural issues within the GNSO than the other house [the contracted party house, i.e., the domain name registrars and gTLD registry operators] ... We’ve heard claims before that the GNSO is broken and various issues around structure have been raised by various groups ..."

Stakeholder to Chehade: "... for the multi-stakeholder model to succeed, ICANN has to demonstrate some of the best attributes that you would normally find in public service in a governmental setting --transparency, full accountability and conflict of interest [policy] ..."

Fadi Chehade: "There is no question that ICANN can improve its accountability, its transparency and its policy. There is no question."

Fadi Chehade: "I’m going to spend time with him [ICANN's new CEO] mostly on sharing with him the mistakes I did, the difficulties I caused myself because I had not understood well. I did not have the privilege of having time with my predecessor right? I had a coffee with him. And it was not a happy coffee. So I - nobody told me anything."  [Note: this is an odd statement since Chehade was reportedly brought into ICANN by his lifelong friend and former co-worker, then ICANN COO Akram Atallah, who, in turn, was promoted by Chehade to the second-highest paying position within ICANN (it's called cronyism).]

Fadi Chehade: "I’ve learned in these four years that unless he [new ICANN CEO] is listening and deriving his priorities from you, he’s going to have a miserable time. It’s that simple ... See the biggest difficulty for an incoming presidency to ICANN is two parts. The first is his title. The title is a problem because [when] you come in, you think you’re a CEO. You’re not a CEO. This is not a typical CEO job. And so you get into your head all kinds of things about being a CEO that just don’t apply here. And so the title is problematic. And I’ll tell him [new ICANN CEO] this after he signs his offer."  [Note: insightful comment by Chehade, he recognizes the originating source of his problems at ICANN is somewhere inside his "head."]

Fadi Chehade: "I think everyone of you could list my mistakes. I can do it for you to save you some time, you know. I made mistakes. It’s okay."  [Note: it would have been helpful and cathartic for the "ICANN community" to have seen Chehade's list of his own mistakes--frankly, I would not be surprised if many of his well-known mistakes were absent from his list--denial is a well-known attribute of dysfunctional leadership (pdf). Also note that remedies to denial in management include having a "powerful board" (Ravi Mistry), but unfortunately for ICANN, its Board is mostly passive, and therefore, mostly useless:

"The second thing [first is the 'CEO' title--see above] is the Board, the name of the Board [ICANN Board of Directors]. This is not a Board in the classic sense of a Board of Directors right? If he [new ICANN CEO] doesn’t understand the nature of this group you elect called the Board which is not a typical Board of Directors and the nature of this community and what it is and the nature then of his much diminished role as CEO President ... if he can’t figure this formula out he’s going to have a rough four years ahead or five years ahead."--Fadi Chehade, NCPH Intersessional. Feb. 5, 2016.]

Is this what happens when an organization is led by a dysfunctional or unprepared CEO, enabled by an equally dysfunctional or unprepared Board of Directors: passing secret Board resolutions, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless hours of ICANN officers and staff time, organizing events and establishing organizations outside the mission and scope of ICANN, instead of focusing on the core issues of improving ICANN functionality, transparency, and accountability?

Is ICANN really ready for prime time?

• Speaking of the IANA transition, and China, Domain Mondo recommends reading, carefully, the recent post from Dr. Mueller's Internet Governance Project: Alternate DNS roots and the abominable snowman of sovereignty, as well as the articles it references: Internet Fragmentation: An Overview (pdf) by William J. Drake, Vint Cerf, and Wolfgang Kleinwächter; and Dr. Paul Vixie's response:

"... I have personally reached out to operators inside the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) to ensure that they know about the Yeti-DNS project, and can participate if they so choose. This reflects my view that if some country decides some day that ICANN cannot be trusted, and they want to create their own Internet DNS system, I want them to have the necessary expertise and competence and awareness of tradeoffs, in-country, to pursue their own sovereign course. If asked, I would advise such countries that any such independence would be nasty, brutish, and short. But I will not pretend that they have to listen to me ... Anybody who wants, for whatever reason of their own, to craft their own root zone as a derivative of IANA's root zone, ought to get all the help they need. Our industry's holy scriptures ought to be written in English not Latin, and ought to be read by the laity, ought to be understood and argued about by the world wide Internet community. Open and transparent network science is no threat to Internet governance ..." --Dr. Paul Vixie, Let Me Make Yeti-DNS Perfectly Clear (emphasis added). 

Indeed, is ICANN even trustworthy today? Many, with good reason, say nay.

See also on Domain Mondo: How ICANN and ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé Evade Accountability and Blocking New gTLDs, ICANN's 'Shadiest' Top-level Domains, 'Wholesale'.

•Meanwhile, work continues on the implentation phase of the ICANN accountability & IANA transition proposal submitted by ICANN's Board of Directors to the NTIA in March:

• NTIA is currently assessing ICANN's IANA Transition proposal, a process which it will not finish until sometime in June according to one tentative IANA Transition timeline.

• Finally, note: ICANN and Verisign Announce Start of 90-day Root Zone Management System "Parallel Testing" Period | ICANN.org. See also Parallel Operations Root Zone Management System Comparison | Verisign.com.

• In the world of tech, Yahoo (stock: $YHOO | domain: yahoo.com) extended the deadline for receiving bids for its assets to April 18, 2016. Interestingly, Yahoo's Q1 2016 earnings release is scheduled for the following day. Meanwhile, Jack Dorsey continues to transform Twitter, replacing 2 directors. Twitter's Q1 2016 earnings release is scheduled for April 26.

This past week's five most popular posts on Domain Mondo (# of pageviews Sun-Sat):

1. News Review  [April 3, 2016]: IANA Implementation, GNSO Open House, .COM Q1 2016
2. ICANN Sends Letter To US Senators But Does NOT Answer Questions
3. GoDaddy $GDDY Secondary Offering, Reaction, Risk Factors
4. Panama Papers: Victims of Offshore; What We Know So Far (videos)
5. Will the UK Leave the EU? Brexit Is More Likely Than You Think (video)

Finally, if you have not seen the video of Elon Musk's SpaceX successfully landing its Falcon 9 rocket on the droneship whimsically named "Of Course I Still Love You" in the Atlantic Ocean, by all means, watch it: SpaceX Successfully Lands Falcon 9 Rocket on DroneShip at Sea (video) | DomainMondo.com.

Have a great week!

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo


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DISCLAIMER

US Senators Cruz, Lankford, Lee's New Letter to ICANN Chairman re: China

Is ICANN complicit in China's censorship regime? Has ICANN's relationship with the Chinese government become a 'systemic problem' within ICANN? Three U.S. Senators want to know--

"It is deeply troubling that ICANN would put registry operators in a position of becoming an actor within the Chinese censorship regime. There is concern that this action could be an example of ICANN’s desire to build a close relationship with the Chinese government which could continue to move in a troubling direction once the United States Government ends its oversight. These concerns were recently confirmed by a member of the Non-Connected Party House’s (NCPH) Commercial Stakeholder Group who participated in a meeting with ICANN in February 2016 and stated, “The ICANN board wants to engage more with China and India following the IANA transition, which somewhat explains the board’s decision not to take action against Chehadé.”" --excerpt from US Sens. Cruz, Lankford, Lee letter, infra (emphasis added)

"Cruz, Lankford, and Lee Raise New Concerns About ICANN’s Relationship with Authoritarian China" is the headline in the latest (March 3, 2016) press release from the office U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, below (emphasis and links added):

"U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), James Lankford (R-Okla.), and Mike Lee (R-Utah) today sent a letter to Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Chairman Dr. Stephen Crocker, outlining new concerns that ICANN may have a direct operational relationship with the Chinese government and its potential implications for an Internet transition that ICANN is expected to approve in Morocco next week.

"Today’s letter to Dr. Crocker follows a letter Cruz, Lankford, and Lee sent to ICANN’S CEO Fadi Chehadé last month. The letter to Mr. Chehadé stated serious concerns and requested information regarding his involvement with the World Internet Conference, organized by the Chinese government, a regime notorious for its censorship of the Internet and criminalization of forms of online speech.

"“Last month, we sent you a letter stating our concerns regarding ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé’s participation in the Chinese-government-sponsored World Internet Conference,” the senators wrote today. “Mr. Chehadé’s participation resulted in an agreement to co-chair a high-level advisory committee for the conference, which could make ICANN complicit in the Chinese censorship regime. Since sending our letter, additional evidence has come to light suggesting that ICANN’s relationship with the Chinese government may be a systemic problem within the organization itself and not limited to a single individual.”"

The letter seeks answers to a series of questions:

Read the latest letter from Senators Cruz, Lankford, and Lee to ICANN Board Chairman Steve Crocker in its entirety here (pdf) and embedded below:



See also on DomainMondo.com: 

• US Senators Cruz, Lankford & Lee Demand Answers From ICANN CEO 
• After Wuzhen, Should ICANN President & CEO Fadi Chehade Be Fired?

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DISCLAIMER

How ICANN and ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé Evade Accountability

Something is rotten in ICANN and the old saying is the rot starts at the top. Embedded below, and here (pdf), is the Editor of Domain Mondo's interchange with ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé in October, 2015, at the ICANN54 Public Forum, and follow-up by ICANN staff in January, 2016, in advance of the ICANN Quarterly Stakeholder call. A copy of the interchange below has been sent to Penny Pritzker, U.S. Commerce Secretary, Larry Strickling (NTIA), and a few others. One can only conclude and surmise from all of this:

1) ICANN intentionally nurtures conflicts of interest as its normal way of doing business (question 1 below);
2) In regard to 21st Century Fox's Rick Lane's questions at ICANN54 Public Forum and ICANN's non-responses below, it is possible ICANN has been paying $$ to influence foreign governments and others outside the U.S. [the two links provided by James Cole of ICANN below are not responsive. The inquiry is not directed to ICANN's U.S. government lobbying, but instead, ICANN's activities outside the U.S., the specifics of which ICANN refuses to disclose]. 

Final note: on January 28, 2016, Mike Silber, ICANN Board Member responded by email:

"Hi John
On 27/01/2016 20:12, John Poole wrote: [DomainMondo.com Editor’s Note: Question was submitted via email, October 21, 2015 (US time), approximately 12 hours before the Public Forum commenced.] Thank you for the clarification. Let me see if those type of questions (dense, but well thought out) can be easily accessed prior to the start of the public forum, so we don't deflect."

Now that ICANN and ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehade have been called to account by U.S.Senators Cruz, Lankford, and Lee, it will be interesting to see how ICANN and its CEO try to avoid the truth and evade accountability, once again. To get full answers to the questions raised above will, apparently, require a U.S. Senate or House investigation, and a Federal Government Audit--Federal Government Contractors are subject to audits performed by a U.S.Government agency such as the Government Accountability Office (GAO)--as well as an IRS (Internal Revenue Service) audit of ICANN's finances for the entire time (2012-2016) Fadi Chehade has been President and CEO of ICANN.

Frankly, none of this bodes well for the IANA stewardship transition. The "accountability mechanisms" proposed by the hardworking sub-group of the ICANN community (CCWG-Accountability) though well-intentioned, are immensely inferior to the accountability mechanisms of the U.S. government as indicated above. Add to that the inept or mostly passive ICANN Board of Directors who allow ICANN staff to run unchecked under the leadership of a CEO unqualified for the position--who himself carved out most of the core functions of ICANN (including the critical IANA functions--see below) into a new "Global Domains Division" (GDD) and put his crony who got him the job at ICANN in charge--allowing the CEO to spend most of his time globetrotting, dabbling in geo-politics, and self-promotion--setting himself up for his post-ICANN career "portfolio".

ICANN organizational chart, p. 5 (pdf) 06/01/2015: The IANA department is part of the Global Domains Division (GDD)
Elise Gerich, VP of IANA, reports to Akram Atallah, GDD President, who reports to ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade

Next post on Domain Mondo: Is ICANN Too Broken To Be Reformed? A Question from CCWG Mail List

See also on Domain Mondo:

• New ICANN President and CEO Göran Marby of Sweden, Starts May 2016: "But troubling reports indicate his temperament and leadership style are incompatible with ICANN's collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach to internet governance."
• ICANN 54 Public Forum Video, Q&A, ICANN, INTA, IANA, Lobbyists
• ICANN Lobbying, Conflicts, Ethics, Transparency, Accountability, Disclosure
• Why Did ICANN Become a Member of Trademark Lobbyist Group INTA?

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DISCLAIMER

US Congressman Tells ICANN CEO To 'Abandon' IANA Transition

UPDATE: ICANN President & CEO Fadi Chehade has replied to Congressman Duffy by letter (pdf) dated February 11, 2016, embedded below:

U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy

In a letter (pdf) to ICANN President & CEO, Fadi Chehadé, dated January 13, 2016, U.S. Congressman Sean P. Duffy (Rep, Wisconsin 7th District), expressed his displeasure with the ICANN CEO's recent interview on NPR about the IANA stewardship transition proposal being prepared by ICANN for submittal to the U.S. government (U.S. Department of Commerce, NTIA). Congressman Duffy notes in his letter "the widespread opposition in Congress to your efforts" and concluded his letter (emphasis added):

"I urge you to abandon your plans to weaken the Internet for users in the United States and around the world. The Commerce Department has no money to consider your proposal and I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure that it never does." --Congressman Duffy, January 13, 2016 Letter to ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé 

Full text:

Congressman Duffy has an interesting biography, according to Wikipedia--

"... Duffy started log rolling at age five and speed climbing (sprinting up 60 and 90 foot poles) at 13. He holds two speed-climbing titles. Television career--Duffy has been an ESPN color commentator for televised competitions and in 2003 appeared as both a competitor and commentator on ESPN's Great Outdoor Games. He was named Badger State Games Honorary Athlete of the 2004 Winter Games. In 1997, Duffy appeared on The Real World: Boston, the sixth season of the MTV reality television show, and on Road Rules: All Stars in 1998, where he met his future wife Rachel. Duffy later appeared on Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Seasons, which aired in 2002. Both appeared in a filmed segment on 2008's The Real World Awards Bash, while Duffy served as district attorney ..." 

Sounds like he could give the real Donald J. Trump a run for his money!  Caveat ICANN!

As for the IANA Transition timetable, here's the latest (Feb 2, 2016) from the CCWG Co-Chairs:

Leading into Marrakech: An Update from the CCWG-Accountability co-Chairs - ICANN: "... Our goal is to distribute the supplemental report to our Chartering Organizations in time for consideration and approval on all Work Stream 1 Recommendations at ICANN55 [March 5-10, 2016] in Marrakech. Keeping in mind the working methods for the various Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees, we ask that this be into account as the Chartering Organizations plan their discussions and schedules leading into and during ICANN55..."


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DISCLAIMER

ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade's Last Day at ICANN: March 12, 2016 (video)

Above video: A Holiday Message from ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehadé. (Published on December 17, 2015.) 

On the video at 2:06: "My last day at ICANN will be March 12, 2016"  [right after ICANN55 | Marrakech, March 5-10]

" ... The mistakes I did, the areas I did not understand, I hope to share ..." [with his replacement as ICANN President and CEO].

See also on Domain Mondo: a special collection of posts--"Remembering Fadi"--

• What Caused ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehadé To Quit?
• ICANN Lobbying, Conflicts, Ethics, Transparency, Accountability, Disclosure
• ICANN 54 Public Forum Video, Q&A, ICANN, INTA, IANA, Lobbyists
• Why Did ICANN Become a Member of Trademark Lobbyist Group INTA?
• China Proposes Multilateral International Internet Governance, ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Agrees (Video)
• ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé panders to DNA at ICANN 52 (video)
• Transcript of DNA member breakfast with ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé (Feb 10, 2015)
• ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade, Post Senate Hearing Questions, Answers
• LIVE Wednesday Hearing, US Congress, IANA, ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade
• ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade "Steamrolled" by CCWG-Accountability Co-Chair
• ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade's View of the IANA Transition is Shortsighted and Naive
• ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Showed Up in Davos for Secret Meeting at WEF
• Fadi Chehadé, Will ICANN Move to Switzerland (video)?
• Fadi Chehade on Domain Hoggers, IANA Transition (ICANN 52 video)
• ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehadé to Leave ICANN March 2016
• ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Moving to ABRY Partners, a Private Equity Firm

Video below: excerpt from Fadi Chehadé's Opening Speech at ICANN 44, Prague, 25 June 2012: At the close of his speech he made three pledges: "I will listen ... I will be very transparent ... I will make all my decisions for the public interest"--


Caveat Emptor!

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DISCLAIMER

ICANN Chairman Steve Crocker, CEO Fadi Chehadé, Final ICANN54 Video

ICANN54 Final Video Interview with Steve Crocker and Fadi Chehadé, interviewed by ICANN's Head of Communications for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Luna Madi. The interview of ICANN Board Chair Steve Crocker and President and CEO Fadi Chehadé occurred at the close of ICANN54 in Dublin. Video above published by ICANN on Oct 23, 2015.

See other Domain Mondo posts related to ICANN 54 in Posts archive below (web page) and via Google Search results

and ICANN Lobbying, Conflicts, Ethics, Transparency, Accountability, Disclosure Oct 23, 2015


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DISCLAIMER

ICANN President and CEO Search Committee

The ICANN President and CEO Search Committee has been formed by the ICANN Board of Directors pursuant to a motion passed at its meeting on June 21, 2015:

Whereas, Fadi Chehadé has announced that he intends to conclude his service as ICANN's President and CEO in March 2016 and the Board is tasked with selecting Mr. Chehadé's replacement.

Whereas, the Board has determined to establish a President and CEO Search Committee, and has identified the following Board members to serve as members of that Committee, all of whom have stated without reservation that they are not a candidate for the position of President and CEO, and will not accept such a position even if offered:

Rinalia Abdul Rahim
Cherine Chalaby
Steve Crocker
Chris Disspain
Markus Kummer
Ram Mohan
Ray Plzak
George Sadowsky (Chair)

Resolved (2015.06.21.03), the Board hereby approves the establishment of the President and CEO Search Committee, and approves the recommended membership and leadership of that Committee as identified above.

Rationale for Resolution 2015.06.21.03
Fadi Chehadé has announced that he intends to conclude his service as ICANN's President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in March 2016. Accordingly, the Board is now tasked with selecting Mr. Chehadé's replacement. The establishment of a temporary Board Committee will allow the Board to more easily coordinate this process with regular reporting to the Board as a whole. It is important to begin this process now, to help ensure that there is timely succession of ICANN's President and CEO, which will assist the organization in maintaining its work in overseeing the security and the stability of the domain name system (DNS). The establishment of this temporary Board Committee will not have a financial impact on ICANN, although resources are likely to be required at later points throughout the search process. This action will not have a negative impact on the DNS.

Establishing the President and CEO Search Committee is an Organizational Administrative Function that does not require public comment. (source: ICANN)

Note: ICANN 53 Session Thursday: 12:45 to 13:45 ART CEO Succession Process Libertador AB
See also:

• What Caused ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehadé To Quit?
• ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehadé to Leave ICANN March 2016

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Fadi Chehadé's Replacement as ICANN CEO? Politico Thinks It Knows

Fadi is out, who's next in? 

Let the games begin--

POLITICO: "NEXT STEPS FOR ICANN — The news that Fadi Chehadé will step down as CEO of ICANN next spring caught many watchers off-guard. But the change, says a spokesperson, is just part of the Internet governance group's natural evolution. "As Chehadé has made clear, ICANN is more than just one person," says Brad White, ICANN's director of communications in North America. "He hasn't just led. He's also inspired a community of often divergent and conflicting opinions. As for the process going forward, the board will form a search committee which will likely hire headhunters that specialize in international organizations to look for likely candidates." They might not have to look too far. When Chehadé was chosen as CEO in 2012, he appointed as senior advisors two of the three runners-up: Egypt's Tarek Kamel and the U.K.'s Sally Costeron." (emphasis and links added)

ICANN can, and should, do better than hiring headhunters to produce a list of possible candidates for an ICANN Board search committee to select its next CEO. That is unlikely to result in the kind of leadership ICANN desperately needs. Domain Mondo has suggested before, and reiterates, "Why would ICANN choose anyone as CEO who does not understand the domain name industry? Domain Mondo suggests that the next CEO of ICANN be selected from among the many, very talented people leading ccTLD registry operators throughout the world."

Right now, Domain Mondo can think of 3 individuals in ccTLD leadership positions--2 men and 1 woman--any one of whom would be far superior compared to ICANN's "batting average" in selecting past CEOs:

ICANN CEOs:
Michael Roberts, October 1998-March 2001
Stuart Lynn, March 2001-March 2003
Paul Twomey, March 2003-June 2009
Rod Beckstrom, July 2009-July 2012
Akram Atallah, July-September 13, 2012 (Interim)
Fadi Chehadé  September 14, 2012-March 2016


Fadi Chehadé Opening Speech | ICANN 44 | Prague 25 June 2012: At the close of his speech he made three pledges: "I will listen ... I will be very transparent ... I will make all my decisions for the public interest."

See also:

• What Caused ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehadé To Quit?
• ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehadé to Leave ICANN March 2016

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ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé Interview at WSIS Forum 2015 (video)

WSIS FORUM 2015 INTERVIEW: Fadi Chehadé, President and CEO, ICANN - published on May 25, 2015: Interview with Fadi Chehadé, President and Chief Executive Officer, ICANN at WSIS FORUM 2015, Geneva, Switzerland (25-29 May 2015).  Subjects covered include the IANA Stewardship Transition and Enhancing ICANN Accountability as well as other Internet governance issues. However, no mention of the announcement last Thursday that Chehadé is leaving his position at ICANN. Further below, day 2 video highlights from WSIS Forum 2015.

See also:

• What Caused ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehadé To Quit?
• ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehadé to Leave ICANN March 2016
• WSIS Forum 2015, Geneva, May 25–29, Remote Participation Online

WSIS FORUM 2015 HIGHLIGHTS VIDEO: DAY 2 - Published on May 26, 2015 - Highlights from the second day at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2015, Geneva, Switzerland (25-29 May 2015).


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What Caused ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehadé To Quit?

Less than 3 years into his tenure as ICANN President and CEO, with more than 2 years left on his contract--ICANN flush with millions in cash from the largest, but full of problems, expansion underway of the DNS in history (ICANN's new gTLDs), as well as the IANA stewardship transition incomplete and still questionable time frame--this seems an inappropriate time for the ICANN CEO to suddenly announce he's leaving. Indeed, Fadi Chehadé's announcement that he will leave ICANN next March, caught almost everyone by surprise, even ICANN insiders:

Fadi, was it something I said? https://t.co/dgkWg1bhZX

— Milton Mueller (@miltonmueller) May 21, 2015

Odd that Fadi Chehade will quit as #ICANN CEO in March 2016 - means he’ll likely not be in charge when #IANA transition happens

— Kieren McCarthy (@kierenmccarthy) May 21, 2015

But long-time observers and participants within ICANN are probably inured to the constant ICANN spin-machine and accept ICANN incompetence and ineptness as a given. But most people don't care nor pay any attention to ICANN. If they did, this is what Fadi Chehadé's legacy at ICANN looks like today:

1. The ICANN new gTLDs program is an embarrassment and disaster (see this and this and this and THIS);

2. The global Internet community largely rejected Fadi's leadership in his top-down ICANN-financed project known as the NETmundial Initiative;

3. ICANN stakeholders had to force ICANN and the US Department of Commerce's NTIA to add an "ICANN accountability" component to the IANA stewardship transition process--NTIA's Larry Strickling never mentioned an accountability "enhancement" requirement in his March, 2014 announcement--but today even Strickling admits ICANN accountability "enhancement" is a necessary component going forward before any IANA stewardship transition can occur.

Three strikes and you're out? We may never know which "straw broke the camel's back." ICANN has lots of secrets and is not known for transparency nor public accountability when it comes to its own Officers.

What we do know is that ICANN and Chehadé have been watched more closely in the past year due to all of the above. In addition, the above has brought added stress to the organization and those in leadership positions. Even normally calm ICANN Board Chairman, Steve Crocker, had a "meltdown moment" yesterday on the CCWG-Accountability mail list.

And ICANN stakeholders are also stressed out--recently an ICANN stakeholder, active in both the CWG-Stewardship and CCWG-Accountability processes, both of which have been working overtime due to "impossible" deadlines, in frustration posted the following on a public mail list:

"... ICANN has, in the process of the CWG and CCWG, revealed itself to be even more beset by bureaucratic thinking, clerical rot, hobby-horse obsessions, unimaginative analyses, and cut-rate Machiavellian management than I'd believed going in. I think it is a fine institution for managing an increasingly-irrelevant resource (TLDs), but it is not an institution that is in good shape to ensure the health of the Internet." (emphasis added)

Ouch!


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