Three of ICANN's six chartering organizations voted Tuesday and Wednesday to either support or not object to sending the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability’s (CCWG-Accountability) proposed set of changes to ICANN's accountability mechanisms on to the ICANN board for a final vote. The Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) agreed Tuesday it has “no objection” to sending the CCWG-Accountability proposal to the ICANN board. The Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) and the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) agreed Wednesday to support the CCWG-Accountability proposal, as expected (see 1603040065). ICANN's other three chartering organizations previously said they support the CCWG-Accountability proposal, meaning no chartering organization outright objects to the proposal. The ICANN board is to consider both the CCWG Accountability proposal and a finalized Internet Assigned Names and Numbers Authority transition plan Thursday at ICANN's meeting in Marrakech, Morocco.
ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee continued debating Tuesday into early evening whether to adopt a document that would say the GAC is still unable to reach consensus on supporting or rejecting the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability's (CCWG-Accountability) proposed recommendations for changing ICANN accountability mechanisms. The GAC is expected to say in its response it “has no objection” to the ICANN board transmitting the existing CCWG-Accountability proposal to NTIA. GAC members indicated they fully support nine of the 12 recommendations included in the CCWG-Accountability proposal but weren't sure whether divisions about three other recommendations mean they shouldn't partially support the proposal. GAC, the Country Code Names Supporting Organization and the Generic Names Supporting Organization all need to reach a conclusion by Wednesday whether they support or reject the CCWG-Accountability proposal. The ICANN board is to vote on the CCWG-Accountability proposal and a final Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition plan Thursday as part of ICANN's meeting in Marrakech, Morocco (see 1603040065). GAC's main sticking point in reaching consensus in Marrakech again involved how to handle CCWG-Accountability's recommendations on GAC's status within ICANN after the IANA transition. CCWG-Accountability recommended the ICANN board be allowed to reject consensus ICANN advice via a 60 percent majority vote. The working group also included a carve-out in its proposal that would bar the GAC from participating in final community votes on taking enforcement action when an ICANN community member objects to ICANN board implementation of GAC advice. GAC Vice Chairwoman Olga Cavalli, also one of Argentina's GAC representatives, led France and six other Latin American nations in objecting to both portions of the CCWG-Accountability proposal (see 1602190047). GAC told CCWG-Accountability in January it wasn't able to reach consensus on whether to support an earlier version of the accountability proposal amid similar concerns about earlier versions of the GAC-related recommendations (see 1601260067).
Librarian of Congress nominee Carla Hayden's experience with pushing for major library modernizations will be a clear asset to the Library of Congress as it addresses significant issues with its IT program, but Hayden remains largely a blank slate on copyright issues, several copyright stakeholders said in interviews. Hayden's work as CEO of Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Free Library system to update that system's technologies became a major selling point in the White House's rollout of her nomination in late February to take over the Library of Congress (see 1602240054). Hayden's reputation as a library reformer shouldn't distract Congress from working on Copyright Office modernization issues, some told us.
ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé said he’s “confident that we will be able to provide” NTIA with final proposed plans for both the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition and a related set of recommended changes to ICANN’s accountability mechanisms by the conclusion of the nonprofit corporation’s meeting this week in Marrakech, Morocco. The ICANN board is to vote Thursday on both the IANA transition plan and the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability’s (CCWG-Accountability) proposed recommendations. ICANN’s chartering organizations already have unanimously cleared the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group’s IANA transition plan but are still evaluating the CCWG-Accountability’s proposal, which has become intertwined with the IANA transition plan.
ICANN’s final consideration of plans for the upcoming Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition will be the focus of ICANN’s meeting this week in Marrakech, Morocco. Several stakeholders told us the meeting also likely will be a harbinger of ICANN’s future after CEO Fadi Chehadé’s imminent retirement. The board plans to meet Thursday on the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group’s IANA transition plan and a related proposal from the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) that recommends changes to ICANN’s accountability mechanisms. ICANN’s chartering organizations already signed off on the IANA transition plan but several of them still need to consider the CCWG-Accountability proposal (see 1602250053). ICANN is to formally begin the meeting Saturday.
The industry-backed Copyright Alliance “is willing to consider supporting an appropriately focused” process for automatically renewing some exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 1201’s ban on circumvention of technological protection measures (TPMs). However, the CO should only grant presumptive renewals to exemptions “for which there is no meaningful opposition, the Copyright Alliance said in comments filed Thursday. The CO sought public comment through Thursday on its study of Section 1201, which in part will explore whether to adjust the office’s triennial review process for Section 1201 exemptions to allow for presumptive renewal of previously granted exemptions (see 1512280030). The CO’s Section 1201 study is seen as the most likely of the office’s three most recently opened policy studies to result in actual policy changes (see 1601050055).
The Copyright Office's proposal to separate its systems from the Library of Congress' IT infrastructure and allocate specific funding for CO IT improvements “has nothing to do with the constitutional arguments” over whether to detach the CO from the LOC, said Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante during a House Appropriations Committee Legislative Branch Subcommittee hearing Wednesday. The CO made its proposal for separating its IT systems as part of a provisional version of its IT modernization plan released Monday (see 1602290071).
Major communications interests are urging the FCC to implement confidentiality protection rules for its proposed voluntary FCC-private sector meetings on cyber risks that are similar to those that the Department of Homeland Security uses in its Protected Critical Infrastructure Information (PCII) program, several told us. The FCC is circulating a policy statement that would set up the process for conducting the FCC-private sector meetings as part of its larger adoption of the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council’s (CSRIC) 2015 report on recommendations for communications sector cybersecurity risk management. The private sector voluntarily committed via the CSRIC report to promote the use of FCC meetings with individual companies about their cyber risks and their use of cybersecurity best practices (see 1503180056 and 1602220052). Several stakeholders said the FCC is unsure whether it has the legal authority to fully implement the confidentiality protections used in DHS’ PCII program for its own confidential meetings.
The Copyright Office said its five-year IT program modernization plan focuses on increasing stakeholders’ use of copyright registration and moving the office away from dependency on a large infrastructure base by using a “variety of cloud strategies.” A “provisional” version of the IT plan released Monday would move the CO’s current paper-based copyright registration to an “automated system where recording parties may enter their own information,” the CO said. Back-end improvements to CO online search functionality will give all stakeholders “dynamic access to the Office’s recordation data,” and the CO will better integrate siloed registration data to provide “a more seamless chain of title from registration to licenses to transfers and the public domain,” the office said. Several copyright stakeholders voiced early praise Monday for the IT plan, saying its high-level priorities stick with the spirit of the CO's 2016-2020 strategic plan (see 1510230042 and 1512010061).
The House Communications Subcommittee is planning a March 17 hearing on the status of ICANN’s Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition plan, a House Commerce Committee aide told us Friday. House Commerce later confirmed that the IANA transition hearing is set for March 17, but provided no additional details on the hearing. House Communications "will continue to exercise our oversight over [NTIA's] effort to transition its oversight of the Domain Name System to ensure that the Internet remains free and open for all users," said House Communications Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., in a statement. The House Communications hearing would occur a week after the ICANN board is set to vote on the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group’s IANA transition plan and the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability’s (CCWG-Accountability) related proposal for changes to ICANN’s accountability mechanisms (see 1602250053). Expectations had been growing that a congressional hearing on the IANA transition would occur after the ICANN board’s vote, particularly given recent criticism from GOP presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, about retiring ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé’s involvement with the Chinese government-led World Internet Conference (see 1602220066). It’s likely that NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling will testify at the House Communications hearing, but it’s less clear which ICANN official will testify, an industry lobbyist told us. Chehadé is expected to leave ICANN March 15, at which point ICANN Global Domains Division President Akram Atallah will become acting CEO. ICANN selected Swedish Post and Telecom Authority Director-General Göran Marby in early February to permanently replace Chehadé, but he won't take the reins until May (see 1602080066).