Internet-Draft Internet Architecture Board (IAB) Expires November 21, 2001 L. Daigle, editor Category: Best Current Practice draft-ietf-poisson-pso-appointments-00.txt May 21, 2001 IETF ICANN Protocol Support Organization Appointments Procedures Status of this Memo This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet- Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet- Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/1id-abstracts.html The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. Abstract This document specifies the process by which the IETF appoints its 2 representatives to ICANN's Protocol Support Organization's Protocol Council (PSO-PC). Additionally, mechanisms that the IETF will adopt for identifying candidates for the PSO's appointments to the ICANN Board of Directors are specified. This process specification reflects 2 years of IETF experience with ICANN, the PSO-PC and the PSO organization, since their inception in 1999. Updates [RFC2282]. 1.0 Introduction The ICANN Protocol Support Organization (PSO) is defined by a Memorandum of Understanding (PSO MoU), [RFC2691], which in turn defines the structure and requirements of a "Protocol Council" (PSO- PC) made up of representatives appointed by the PSO MoU signatory organizations. The PSO MoU also stipulates that the PSO-PC will nominate an ICANN Director each year. IAB [Page 1] Internet-Draft draft-ietf-poisson-pso-appointments-00.txt May 2001 Two separate selection/appointment roles are discussed here. The reader is referred to the ICANN By-Laws (available from http://www.icann.org) and the PSO MoU for the precise definitions of the support organizations and roles. In short, ICANN has a "Protocol Support Organization", which is an abstract entity made up of several signatory standards development organizations. The IETF is one such. To coordinate the communications and activities of the PSO, the participating organizations appoint 2 people to the Protocol Council (PSO-PC), which then acts as the communications nexus between the participating organizations and ICANN. The first process discussed here is for the selection of IETF members on the PSO-PC. Separately from that, the PSO, through the PSO-PC, is tasked with naming 3 members for the ICANN Board of Directors (1 per year, for 3 year terms, staggered). Individual participating organizations (such as the IETF) can propose candidates for consideration. The second process described in this memo is for the selection of potential candidates for ICANN Board seats. Therefore, this document specifies the processes by which the IETF appoints its 2 PSO-PC representatives, and selects candidates for consideration for the PSO ICANN Board of Directors appointment. Insofar as the latter is seen as a task for the IETF Nominations Committee, this document is an update of the IETF NomCom procedure defined in [RFC2282]. 2.0 Experience -- PSO-PC members and ICANN Board appointments Two years of experience with the PSO-PC as a functioning entity has made it clear that the primary role of PSO-PC members is to act as liaisons from their appointing organization. The PSO-PC itself does not do technical deliberations or policy-making, beyond the actions specified in the RFC 2691 and acting as a clearing house for PSO MoU signatories' combined input and consensus. The PSO-PC currently undertakes its activities through scheduled teleconferences, and holds an annual general assembly, normally scheduled in conjunction with one of the PSO signatories' meetings. Originally, one of the IETF's PSO-PC appointees was an IAB member, and the other was not. Subsequently, the latter was selected by the IETF NomCom to serve on the IAB, which provided the opportunity to evaluate whether direct communication with the IAB improved the effectiveness in the PSO-PC role. The conclusion is that it's best to have established communication links with the IAB/IAB members, though IAB membership itself is not a requirement. The role of a member of the ICANN Board of Directors is much the same as that of any corporation, with the associated statutory IAB [Page 2] Internet-Draft draft-ietf-poisson-pso-appointments-00.txt May 2001 responsibilities. Additionally, the PSO as a whole aims to ensure that ICANN has people with strong Internet technical knowledge on its Board, and any IETF-proposed candidate should be chosen with that in mind. The IETF's standard process for selection, through its Nominations Committee ([RFC2282]), is considered the most appropriate for soliciting candidate proposals and selecting the best fit with these requirements. 3.0 IETF PSO-PC member appointment process The primary role of a PSO-PC appointee is to participate in the PSO- PC interactions with ICANN, as described in the PSO MoU. In acting as a representative of the IETF's participation in the PSO, appointees are responsible for liaising with the IAB on technical matters requiring PSO input, and otherwise keeping the IAB up to date on the state of the PSO. As part of its mandate for appointing external liaisons for the IETF (see [RFC2850]), the IAB is tasked with appointing PSO-PC members for the IETF. Normally, the IAB will appoint PSO-PC members for a 2 year term, with each position coming up for renewal/replacement in alternate years. The IAB may recall/change an appointment at its discretion. In accordance with the PSO MoU, the IAB will consider any candidates proposed as a result of the PSO-PC's/ICANN's call for nominations, posted concurrently with the posting of notice of the date of the annual meeting of the PSO General Assembly on the PSO Web Site. 4.0 IETF identification of potential ICANN Board member candidates As an addition to the responsibilities of the IETF Nominations Committee defined in RFC 2282, the NomCom shall also be responsible for selecting the IETF's proposals for Board candidates to be considered by the PSO-PC. This shall be done by the usual NomCom procedure of a public call for nominations, discussion and selection of the best candidate(s) matching the requirements defined by the PSO MoU (e.g., geographic representation). The NomCom will use as much as possible the procedures defined in RFC 2282. The IAB shall be responsible for confirming the selection(s) of the NomCom. If any or all of the NomCom's selections are not accepted by the IAB, the NomCom shall select alternative(s). The PSO-PC chooses one ICANN Board candidate annually, for a 3 year term, in time for the candidate to take up their seat in October. The NomCom's selection should be scheduled to coordinate with the IAB [Page 3] Internet-Draft draft-ietf-poisson-pso-appointments-00.txt May 2001 PSO-PC's call for candidates, typically in June of every year. Therefore, the IAB will inform the NomCom chair as to the number of candidates the IETF will put forward to the PSO-PC no later than March 1. If any PSO-appointed Board seat should be vacated early, the IAB may call upon the standing NomCom to select candidates for consideration as a replacement. 5.0 Security Considerations As this document deals strictly with appointments processes, it is not expected to have any impact on network security. 6.0 References [RFC2691] Bradner, S., "A Memorandum of Understanding for an ICANN Protocol Support Organization", RFC 2691, September 1999. [RFC2282] Galvin, J., "IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and Recall Process: Operation of the Nominating and Recall Committees", RFC 2282, February 1998. [RFC2850] IAB, B. Carpenter (ed), "Charter of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB)", RFC 2850, May 2000. 8.0 Authors' Addresses Leslie L. Daigle (editor) EMail: leslie@thinkingcat.com Internet Architecture Board EMail: iab@iab.org Membership at time this document was completed: Harald Alvestrand Ran Atkinson Rob Austein Fred Baker Brian Carpenter Steve Bellovin Jon Crowcroft Leslie Daigle IAB [Page 4] Internet-Draft draft-ietf-poisson-pso-appointments-00.txt May 2001 Steve Deering Sally Floyd Geoff Huston John Klensin Henning Schulzrinne IAB [Page 5]