ICANN Background to Request 09/05/01

May 9, 2001

Dear Colleagues:

I am writing you as one of over 240 leaders of ccTLDs to introduce myself to you as the new President of ICANN, and to seek your support in furthering our mission. One of my key goals this coming year is to strengthen the collaborative relationship ICANN enjoys with the worldwide Internet community solidifying our formal relationships, improving the ICANN/IANA service capabilities, and working together as peers for the good of the global Internet.

I recently assumed the presidency of ICANN from Mike Roberts who retired from the position on March 13 ^th . After two and a half years of tireless effort, I am sure Mike is as relieved to return to retirement as I am excited to get to work.

I am writing to request your voluntary funding support for ICANN. This is part of an overall drive to stabilize ICANN's financial standing so that we can work effectively with you towards our common goals. This year, I hope we can obtain the participation of all ccTLDs using a different approach than last year. This approach has been designed following a consensus process that has involved many of you directly or indirectly.

A New Approach

Last year, ICANN sent you an "invoice" for a set financial contribution calculated on the basis of relative ccTLD registry sizes. This was an attempt to apportion fairly among each of you the total amount expected from all ccTLDs, at a time when the ccTLD community had not reached consensus on an apportionment formula. Some of you were surprised and confused over these invoices because ICANN had not completed written agreements with your organizations. The result was that some of you chose not to contribute.

Many ccTLDs, however, did make contributions, some in excess of the amount on the "invoice" document. I thank those of you who graciously responded, and who provided vital financial support for ICANNs work. The ICANN Board of Directors and the ICANN staff appreciate it.

This year, to avoid confusion, I want to be quite clear that we seek contributions made voluntarily by you because you believe the work of ICANN is necessary and essential to a stable and global Internet. Whereas we leave to your discretion the size of that contribution, I nevertheless want to suggest to you an amount to contribute that is based on a fair share formula developed in consultation with the community as part of the budgeting process.

Why ICANN?

Let me explain why I believe ICANN is important to your operation, to your country, and to a stable worldwide Internet why, in short, you should want to commit a portion of your scarce resources to furthering ICANNs mission.

 ICANN is a non-profit organization committed to a stable Internet, global in reach, and accessible to all. Our Board of Directors is truly international, with 7 Directors from North America, 6 from Europe, 3 from the Asia/Pacific, 2 from Latin America, and 1 from Africa.

As president of ICANN, I reflect the policies of ICANNs Board of Directors. The Board of Directors work to reflect the wishes of the Internet community expressed through a variety of constituent organizations and directly through feedback from individuals and groups expressed through open meetings and postings on the Web.

No part of the Internet is an island: we depend on each other for its success. A failure on one part of the Internet can affect us all. Your organization is a vital part of that global Internet, but you depend on your colleagues everywhere to ensure that you and your users can dependably make the Internet work for them. ICANN nurtures the collaborative processes that harmonize this interdependence.

ICANN, as you know, is committed to preserving the fundamental architecture of the Domain Name System (DNS), starting with a globally unique root that provides access to anyone from anywhere without fear of address collisions that can cause confusion to users. The DNS succeeds because it is open, non-proprietary, scalable, and inexpensive, allowing every node on the Internet to reach every other node with remarkable reliability. To ensure stability, we work hard to protect this concept.

We also work hard with you and all our colleagues to continue the self-governing traditions of the Internet, based not on hierarchical control but on the cooperative efforts of all who have a stake in the Internets continued success. We do not represent any one constituency, but are a catalyst in bringing together all constituencies who have a stake in the future of the Internet.

We are committed to carry out ICANN's service obligations in a professional manner, obligations that include fulfilling our IANA undertakings and our mandate to ensure that the root server function is managed dependably. I will need your input and help to ensure that we carry out these charters effectively.

We are dedicated to collaboration, interdependence and internationalization. We have come far down the road, but there is work to be done to complete the task so that ICANN is truly "owned" by the worldwide Internet community to sustain the open, non-proprietary, and highly reliable infrastructure that so much of the world's communication now relies on.

What we are not

ICANN does not "govern" the Internet. No one does and no one can. Our collective hope is that the Internet will not be captured by any organization or series of organizations that mistakenly think they know better than the community at large. A successful ICANN responsive to the needs of the community is the best insurance against this.

ICANN has a limited technical mission directed to ensuring a stable Internet. Necessarily there are gray areas that straddle the boundary between a purely technical mission and the real world of laws and business practices for example, ICANN has had to undertake efforts to minimize cybersquatting in the com/net/org gTLD registries. But we must be careful even with those gray areas not to take on more than we should.

While some would like to see us expand our mission, most would not. We do not become involved with issues that are best left to local governments or legal systems such as content control or adjudicating monopolistic practices. Neither do we interfere in ccTLD registries, except to assure minimum technical requirements, as requested by the local community, and in extreme situations to ensure stability of the Internet.

Delegation

The DNS is organized according to the principles of decentralization and delegation, reflecting the longstanding conclusion that users' needs can best be met through a diversity of registry options, including country-level registries responsive to the needs of local communities. Where possible, we seek to document these relationships in agreements among the various entities, in order to make them transparent and reliable, and to reflect a clear understanding of division of responsibilities. ICANN's role is to protect the global interest and to stay out of local considerations.

These "lightweight", framework agreements are essential to a well-ordered, decentralized Internet. In the past year, we have focused on agreements that enable the introduction of new gTLDs, the transition of all IANA functions to ICANN, and the formalization of root server management. This next year, we hope to work with you to implement agreements with those of you who are ready to enter into agreements with ICANN.

The principles of delegation and decentralization ensure that ICANN will remain relatively small, responsive to the community, with only that minimum staff necessary to carry out its coordinating and service missions. That is why ICANN is expense-controlled and not free to spend according to whatever revenues it can acquire, that is, we are not free to spend more money just because we can raise it. We respect that we have no right to request support for more than we truly need to accomplish our mission.

Priorities and Financial Support

The financial support we are seeking now is for 2000-2001, the current financial year. Our request has been deferred until now so we could work to build consensus on how to proceed with the various ccTLD, gTLD, IP address, and other affected constituencies.

Our proposed priorities for 2001-2002, our next financial year, are spelled out in the accompanying document which will be discussed and acted upon at the upcoming ICANN meeting in Stockholm. I invite your comments on this document. Please either email them to me directly ( lynn@icann.org ) or post them to the public web forum.

Our proposed budget for next year is posted on the Web at http://www.icann.org/financials/proposed-budget-14may01.htm so you can see where our funding goes. This budget has been carefully reviewed by ICANN's Budget Group, which includes representatives of gTLD, ccTLD, and IP address registries and registrars. and will also be discussed and acted upon in Stockholm. Again, I welcome your feedback and suggestions.

Among the budget items of greatest relevance to ccTLDs, I direct your attention to our dedicated ccTLD liaison (Herbert Vitzthum, formerly of NIC.AT), the expanded IANA service capabilities, and strong support for root server operations. But these are only part of a broader range of activities that combine to ensure a stable and global Internet.

Your Assistance

To continue our work on your behalf, ICANN depends on financial support from the community. For those with whom we have agreements, the contributions will be assessed in accordance with the stipulations of those agreements. For those with whom we do not have agreements, we depend on your willingness to participate.

All share in the benefits of ICANNs work. If everyone contributes to ICANNs financial support the burden is shared by all, apportioned as fairly as we can approximate in this imperfect, human world. This burden should not fall only on the generosity of a few. That is why I am now asking for your contribution.

The "Statement of Intent" letter (in some parts of the world this is known as a "pledge") that is also attached to the covering email note to this letter indicates what your fair share would be based on the formula developed through the process of consultation mentioned earlier in this letter. Please give this fair share serious consideration and contribute what you can.

I have been informed that there are some among you who would prefer to pay according to a specified invoice rather than make a contribution. This is for administrative reasons. Provision for this possibility is also provided for in the "Statement of Intent". Please let us know what works best for you and we will work with you accordingly.

The Statement of Intent also links to two Web forms (whichever one is appropriate for you to use) for your convenience in responding.

Thank you for your assistance. I and the ICANN staff look forward to working with you and your colleagues. As a service organization, ICANN cannot succeed without regular feedback (and constructive criticism) from its constituents. I hope you will not hesitate to call, write or email me to let me know how we can do a better job of furthering our common interests.

With warm regards,
M. Stuart Lynn
President and CEO

© 2001 The Internet Society of New Zealand
Last updated 21 May 2001