SEVENTH ANNUAL INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM BAKU, AZERBAIJAN

SUSTAINABLE HUMAN, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 8 NOVEMBER 2012

16:30 ICANN OPEN FORUM

********This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the pr

>> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Good afternoon, everybody. Those of you

with your headsets in, I hope you can hear me. Excellent. There is no point for me asking the people in the back of the

room to sit down, because they can't hear me. So welcome, everyone. This is the traditional ICANN forum at

IGF. It's an opportunity for people to come along and ask lots of questions and have lots of discussion. And it's nice to see some new faces in the room as well as some old faces, who I will not name.

So thank you all for coming. The format's very loose, but we are going to start with -- there will be a short technical pause while the Chair and the CEO get headsets. Bahere, can you...

so as I was saying, this is going to be a very casual forum. We will take questions on anything you want to talk about, but we have a couple of things that we want to talk to you, tell you about. And we're going to start with some welcoming words from the Chair of ICANN, Dr. Steve Crocker. So Steve, over to you to say hi.

>> STEVE CROCKER: Welcome everybody. It's a pleasure. I see a mixture of familiar faces and fortunately some people that I don't recognize. So we're not just talking to ourselves here. It's my pleasure as Chairman of the board of ICANN to welcome you and kick-off this session. In a very few seconds I'll turn things over to Fadi, who has a lot more substance and elegance than I do.

This is a forum about ICANN and one of the things that we try to be conscious about is that ICANN lives in a much larger ecosystem, and is only one smart portion of Internet governance,

and I think it's a most appropriate kind of comment to make in this Internet Governance Forum. And the success of Internet Governance in, overall, and the success of ICANN in particular, depends very strongly, in my view, on the cooperation and smooth functioning across multiple portions of the ecosystem.

So with that, I'll turn things over to Fadi to actually talk about ICANN.

>> FADI CHEHADE: Okay. Good afternoon, everyone. Just a quick message, because as Chris said it would be great if we can make this a more interactive session. There are many friends in the audience, many new people that we haven't met before, so we should just open the floor and listen and talk and chat a bit about ICANN.

But maybe just a few words to start. I think many of you have now heard about the new season starting at ICANN, a new season of really opening up ICANN, removing the fortress walls and going to the world with our message, with our mission, with our activity, and getting closer to the stakeholders. Akram and I were just reviewing some expansion plans for ICANN in LA and Washington, and both of us agreed today to stop them. So we will buy no more real estate and instead focus on growing offices out in the -- oversees and going out to the world. So the new ICANN is instead of waiting for the people to come to you, we will go to the world.

And that also means that we will make it easier to work with ICANN. We will make it more obvious for people to engage with ICANN. Our structures must be made easier, the engagement has to be simpler, and people should understand how to participate. We will invest time and effort to make that happen.

This is my first IGF. And coming on the heels of Toronto, which is the ICANN trimester meeting that we just held, it's obviously been quite an intense second meeting.

Having said that, I must tell you as a first time comer -- how many people here are first time in IGF?

(Showing of hands)So most of you are veterans. There's five of us only first

time. I think this is a very substantive forum, very substantive. I was actually frankly very impressed. I have held meetings through this week, engaged in dialog and bilaterals this week that have been immensely meaningful to our mission and very useful. In fact, we have come out of this forum with new ideas, with new ideas. So it wasn't just about ICANN meeting people and letting them know what we do. We actually learned a lot. I have gained a lot of knowledge, built new friendships, new relationships. This is what it's about. This is what the IGF is about. And it's fantastic.

So for those that accuse the IGF to be just a place where

people talk, well, we need to talk. You know, we're not just building code, you know, we need to talk. We need to agree. We need to discuss. We need to hear each other. And what happened this week substantively here for me at IGF was very useful, very useful.

So I am personally a great supporter of this forum now and I'm -- ICANN has been and will continue to be, for a good reason, for good reason. This is substance.

And, finally, just on some of the things we did here, of course as many of you know I had a very frank and substantive discussion with Dr. Hamadoun I. Toure', which I think advanced the level of our discussion with him to a new level, as he called it, to a new season as well. The same has happened with the new under secretary for UN DESA, Mr. Wu, and I had very good discussions that I think allow us to exchange ideas and work better together and support each other.

And I've had also substantive meetings with many, many countries and many -- not just Government delegations, but also individuals, businesses, users, who are here trying to make their voices heard.

So I'm -- I very much -- I'm very, very pleased with the dialog that happened here and I look forward to see you in Bali I hear? Indonesia. In Indonesia, next time. So we will look forward to that. And we will have a lot of good coffee, given that the Indonesians you produce good coffee there.

So with that, I hand it back to our host here. >> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Thanks. So you've got a chance to ask

Fadi questions about anything, really, perhaps under the broad heading of ICANN rather than anything at all.

Who wants to start with a question?I'll be amazed if someone doesn't have a question. Okay... well, you know, you obviously haven't said anything

controversial enough. See, I knew that would happen. If you wait long enough...

could I have the other handheld, please? I get to be the microphone Fairy as well, which is great.

>> AUDIENCE: Adkan Verasn. I was asking questions about the difference between IGF and ICANN. One thing that came to mind is it's harder to make bingo cards for the IGF. As we really talked through it, ICANN really is better about getting business done, from my perspective. But the discussions are all about what are we going to do for policy, what are we going to do -- and then we have these great discussions either at the bar or back at the hotel. And there is really no forum here at the IGF to have the after discussions. Because where our venues are together, they are -- where the hotel is, way better conversation is falling here, everything is distributed. You've got a lot of good things

going on for the IGF and I think the IGF is better for industry, from my perspective.

So I'd like to bring the discussion -- the discussions that we're having here, are relevant to the things that affect all contracted parties or all the constituencies in the stakeholder groups. Is there a way that we can do that in the ICANN realm to bring back these discussions and not be about specific who has policies, and those kinds of things?

>> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Sally -- if you are new to this, this is Sally Costerton, and the microphone is about to be passed to her.

>> SALLY COSTERTON: Thank you. Hello, I'm Sally. And the reason that Fadi said that is because, for any of you that were at the Toronto meeting, Fadi asked me, off the stage in the middle of the Toronto meeting, if I would take a look at the content of the meetings. So it's a very timely question.

And I'm also very glad to hear what you say. I completely agree with you. This is a very personal comment. Just at the end of my first IGF I have found this to be, as Fadi said, very substantive and it's given me a lot of ideas. So we're handling -- I'm leading a small review team, and at the moment with staff but it will widen to the community, start looking at how we cannot change everything, but just evolve. How we use the ICANN meetings. They are very powerful. But one observation we have is that they're not very topic driven. They are quite constituency led. So we need to find a middle ground. Because the constituency -- people come to ICANN meetings partly to be in their constituency. So that is important. Finding opportunities to bring people from across the constituencies together, such as industry, but not just industry, around topics which concern us all, which is how this works.

So thank you for that. And expect to hear more from us as we formulate our recommendations a bit more and come to you for input. And the other thing I would say is they can't last -- we can't put another day on the end of the meeting, just in case anyone is leaving here worried.

>> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Yes? It's interesting. Probably for the first time I noticed in Toronto, maybe I was going on for a while, gTLDs and brands coming, but people were coming for two days and they left on Tuesday because their work was done. So that's a different dynamic than what we're used to. So we have to take an accounting of that.

Okay. Anyone else want to ask Fadi or someone else for that matter another question before we move on to the next bit, which is about communications and engagement? Nothing specifically for Fadi right now? Yes, Howard.

>> HOWARD: I think you triggered my interest to speak when you mentioned the next bit before we get into the detail. An

interjection perhaps might be worthwhile. I was in the session before this one, and that was the UNESCO

session on multi-lingualism. And I found it exceptionally helpful. One of the key points that were discussed were how to advance multi-lingualism, especially in the new era where, you know, I see you nodding so I think we're on the same page.

As some of the discussions were also about our expectation, our timeline. And then what sort of like came to my mind was while UNESCO is doing some great things, I think there are some serious challenges that ICANN can be better at. And you may have already come to terms with them. I recognize you're still new on the job and you're doing an excellent job of learning on the job as well.

Let me just summarize. The latest milestone in ICANN's history is the new gTLDs. We receive 1900 plus. Out of those, in the region of 5 percent are IDNs. Those of us who remember the WSIS, the WSIS concluded in 2005, calling on ICANN to internationalize itself. And part of the compromise was the consultation on the Internet Governance, which I was involved in, in New York and then the birth of WCAG and the IGF. And from that perspective, the call to internationalize itself was to launch IDNs, and to add the legitimacy from the Internet national perspective to ICANN.

What we ended up with is a new gTLD programme that delivered to us 1900 plus applications, 95 percent of which are in the ASCII characters.

In my opinion, maybe other people don't agree, but that's fine, that's my personal and professional opinion, I think that was a serious let down. I would like to hear your comment on that whether you think it could have been better or how do we do it to actually overcome this let down?

Secondly, even the decision to go with IDNs first, which in Toronto I welcomed, I did not congratulate yet, because I see challenges with that as well. Because you look at the sources of the IDN requests. There are significant numbers within those applications that are also western companies applying for IDN stuff. So if we're really trying to serve what I've been calling for the last two or three years the global public interest, do we not need to pay attention and reform ourselves, structurally, to deliver on an Internet that is truly as transparent as we can, as functional as we can, but also as fair as we can, so we don't end up into the mistake of what happened in the last six or seven years, that it may have been minor degree or two in the direction, instead of landing us on Mars, it landed us on the moon. That's a huge landing discrepancy.

So what I'd like to ask you is have you already become aware

of these challenges, and to what extent to you see those as part of your strategic vision of how to actually redirect the direction to actually deliver ICANN, the legitimacy it needs? So at least you do end up serving the global public interest beyond what I would call in friendly conversations the Banjo.

>> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Thank you. >> FADI CHEHADE: I really appreciate, first of all, really

not just your passion for the subject but your sincerity about the importance of this. And, frankly, your doggedness about it. Because if people like you don't do that, we will just keep going and not pay attention to these things. So I thank you for that on my behalf and on behalf of the community. And you've been generous in your time with me whenever you could, and whenever I could, to keep me focused on that. So thank you for that.

So the short answer to your question is it would be insincere of me to say to the community yes, we're making ICANN International by opening offices in Baku and Cairo and making sure that ICANN meetings are translated in, you know, 26 languages. That is not reaching out to the world.

The problems are deeper and more complex than you called it a paint job. So what I want to assure you of is that not only my heart is in the right place, but my mind is in the right place and I'm going to direct the resources in the right place, so we can actually finally solve this riddle.

I'll give you an example. One of the reasons not many International domain names are working is because if you try today to set up a domain name, an e-mail address with a Cyrillic or Arabic or Chinese character, good luck sending an e-mail. That's a fundamental problem. You know, that is not going to work.

So I'm not sitting on the issue, you can ask my Chairman, this morning we were having breakfast and I'm asking how do we move this forward? Talk to the CTO of Cisco. Microsoft in the Middle East, for example, how is it? Well, we need to figure out how to advance IETF standards. How do we get those standards moved forward? We're on it. We will be on it. Not everything is in my hands or ICANN's hands. But we must be leaders and find people in the community that say how do we advance this issue? Because as we advance the issue, we solve the problems and move forward.

What is happening at ICANN now, and this is maybe not visible to many people, is a hands-on engagement to solve problems. This is not about shaking hands and having talks and appearing on TV. It's not about that. ICANN is about getting the work down. That's what ICANN should be about.

So when we have issues, last week in Brussels we had tens of people from the community sitting with me for two full days until

we solved the problem in the trademark clearinghouse. That is how we get things done. Akram is doing the same right now as we speak with another side.

We are a hands-on management team. We are doing the work of the community. That's what we need to be doing.

Lastly, on the IDN, it's not just an e-mail issue and standard. I just want to give you the assurance that we are on top of it. As to the structural way ICANN works and whether ICANN should add a new structural group that focuses on the IDNs to give it attention, this is a subject that the community should discuss. And if it's the right way to advance our focus on IDN, we should do that.

If there is a better way or another way, let's do it. But we can't just sit on it and do nothing. It's time that we embrace that and we do it well. And I tell you, the backside to why only 5 percent of the applications came from nonASCII characters is because ICANN is not there. Go put yourself in the shoes of somebody sitting in Libia who wants to apply for this or in Indonesia, it's not easy to, quote unquote, embrace ICANN's processes if you come from that part of the world. So this is why Tarek and Sally and the engagement and we're doing there is to go find why the Guy in Indonesia is having a hard time. Even if he had the cash to apply for this, we have to make that easier, faster and more accessible. And that we're going to do. So thank you.

>> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Thanks, Fadi. We will move on and talk about participation in ICANN unless there is -- not that Fadi is going anywhere. He will still be here. Okay.

So you heard from Sally and she is going to talk a bit about participation in ICANN and how we ensure global multi-stakeholder participation. And you can have a label as well. That's okay.

>> SALLY COSTERTON: Thank you, Chris. The multi-tasking. It's nice to see you. And thank you for

being here at fairly close to the end of this conference, and you all look more lively, like you've had more sleep than I had. So that is one thing I learned from my first IGF.

I just wanted to tell you a bit about something that I know most of you are very keen on, very much want to hear about. I'll go into a bit more detail in terms of what Fadi was saying about how we want to deepen and broaden our engagement with our stakeholders.

So, at the top level, deepen, those of you for example who are here, who are either already very active in our community or are looking in, as it were, from perhaps other parts of the Internet Governance community and are intrigued to see a little more of what ICANN does, we want to work out how to deepen our relationship with you even more, and bring you -- help you to

express yourself and to facilitate your ability to do your business in your countries and in your specialist groups.

So we're here for those of you who know us already, which effectively is pretty much everyone in this room, we're here to help you do your business more effectively. And that part of our work, we will as well as Internationalizing, which Tarek and I are very involved with, and that is very practical things. Mainly at this stage it's about people, it's about talent. How do we make sure that we have the very best people that come to work for ICANN, who not only have very, very strong skills, but very importantly they share the mission.

This is not about hiring, you know, consultants by the pound. It's about making sure we bring people into our staff community who share your values. And if they don't share them yet, it's because they are friends you haven't met yet. Literally. This is how we see it.

So we're spending probably more time than we thought we would be doing at this stage on very classic management. You know, how do we make sure that we have the right combination of skills and talent? And where, where do we want them to be based?

The second thing on the broader talent agenda, they will not like me using that word, but I will because I happen to think they are talented, is how do we work more closely with our board? They are tremendously skilled, they well connected and very passionate about ICANN, of course, or they wouldn't be here. And they have been extremely generous, to a man and woman, to my team and myself personally. Anything we can do, we want to do to help you. And I mean that most sincerely, this is not me being flattering, because some of them are sitting in here. Everyone who has been in those meetings knows that that is what we are doing together. And I know that you will be very pleased to hear that.

Because, of course, the mechanism -- for those of you that don't know, the mechanism or appointing board directors in ICANN is from the community. So this is something very, very relevant, very direct in terms of helping us to provide you with the kind of things that we think you need. But also engaging them in that process, and they are very willing and they have good and I hope that you'll see them more doing slightly different things as time goes on, and they have been so far very, very supportive.

In terms of broadening our engagement with stakeholders, this is really about bringing new stakeholders into the ICANN -- into ICANN, into our community. Sometimes often it will be for the first time. Many of you will have heard Fadi talk about taking us to new -- taking us to new places, specifically where new Internet users will come from.

In addition to that, I come from a communications background.

I spent most of my life in communications. And I feel quite passionately that I want to spread the word. I want to use the skills that I have to really go to new audiences not just in emerging and developing markets, but in America, in Europe, to people that we need to hear from, some of whom are here at IGF, on a broader range of topics, as I just said to this gentleman here. Because the energy for this is phenomenal. And slightly better, much better, and simpler and clearer communications, that's my word for today. Clearer communications from ICANN, so that we can help those people understand us straight away.

We talk to them in language that they talk today, real world speak, I'm going to call it. This is a big priority for me. How do we go through all the work that we do at ICANN and make sure that as much as possible anybody in the world can understand us and engage? So that's not just about language, although it is about language and scribing and translation, it's also about just explaining ourselves more clearly.

And to that note, very briefly, I'm just going to stand up so the microphone is going to go for a second. But I'll show you that if you haven't seen these -- and hopefully all of us have seen them in our booth in the lobby, Matt is nodding, this is Matt here with the blue checked shirt and waving -- you can find him here or in the lobby and he will give you these. We have been working on just simple pictures, you'd call them doodles. They are not quite smart doodles, but they are basically doodles, but they are designed to help us with storytelling. Clear communications is about storytelling. I want us to engage in something that means something to both of us. And if you don't understand what I'm trying to tell you, it is not communications, it is a monologue.

And these are just two doodles. One is about -- I'll stay with the microphone. That's a good idea. This is about how the Internet works. Who runs the Internet? And this is designed to go, if you go on Google and you type in "Who runs the Internet?" this will come up. It's from my mom. She is 76. She wants to buy an iPad for the first time. She is somebody who may well have a view about what kind of content she wants to have access to. She has no idea that whether she has access to content or not has to do with things like regulation. Why would she have that? She also has no idea where to go and find that information. So this is a sign to start a dialog, to start a dialog with people who probably don't know us yet. Very high level.

The second one is in a slightly earlier phase as you can see. This is what in design is apparently called a napkin. As an English woman I thought that was something that you had on your lap at meal time. Anyway, this is a napkin and this is how ICANN

works. I'd love to be able to say that it is easy or possible to make this one quite as simple as this one, but it's not going to happen. But still, you will see one thing on this table that you don't see in other ICANN drawings, sometimes, which is people. Actual people. Like the people that are in this room.

IGF is about dialog. It's about building relationships, not about making decisions, not about building policy. And I've been very struck in my first three months, especially here, about how this extraordinary mechanical thing, digital thing that we call the Internet, is really supported by people, by relationships.

And trying to find a way to express that in a meaningful way that will empower and encourage people is also a part of this exercise.

If you haven't already done this and you would like to, you can go on to a new platform that we have created, which is our working platform for anybody, anybody that wants to become part of our ICANN community. And it is called "MyICANN." And if you haven't been up, please go and register. It is very easy to register and it's on myICANN.org. And on there, on the front page you'll find a button that has "help us picture our world" and this is where you click through and leave comments. So if you do this, as somebody did to me the other day, there is in "D" come and tell us there is no "D". And hopefully we will use them on the Web; we will encourage you to use them.

They are social tools. We would like them to go viral. Do what you want with them in the next month to six weeks. By January they will be in proper circulation, but do tell us what you think.

The final thing I wanted to talk about was capacity building. Because I need to make sure I say that at every meeting. I haven't said multi-stakeholder yet. I did? I said that? Thank you, Erika. Capacity building is on my watch and Tarek's watch, but particularly on mine. And I've had exchanges with my colleagues or my friends in the ALAC community, which has been fantastic and very, very helpful. And we're now getting from the stage of saying: How can we help? Which I spent about the first six weeks saying, to okay, now we have to start work.

And each of you want capacity building in a different way. You know, this I worked out. So for some, yesterday somebody was talking to me about recruitment of new NGOs -- not NGOs, not-for-profits. Other people want content, give us guides, which you find on the booths, helping people to understand our world and our community. Other people want feet on the ground, meetings, speakers. Other people want slides, connections. This kind of thing. So over the next few weeks and months we will be talking with you a lot and listening. Engagement is about listening, as well as asserting. And we are listening at the moment because

we're new and we need to do more listening. But we will also start doing things. And now we're already starting moving into that phase with our Africa strategy. And next with our Latin American Caribbean strategy. And you'll start seeing us much more active in terms of supplying content.

So, my final words, I would say firstly thank you for helping me to understand your world. And thank you very much for everything that you've advised us so far. And please keep talking to us.

Thank you. >> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Thank you, Sally. How many people in the room who have been to look at my ICANN?And how many --(Showing of hands)And how many people registered for myICANN. That is everybody

who has a look at it. Who wants to say something about myICANN? Cheryl? Matt is coming with a microphone.

>> CHERYL LANGDON: Hi. I'm Cheryl Langdon. Once upon the time I had the honour and privilege of being the Chair of the At Large Advisory Committee, which is that ALAC word that Sally was using earlier. And the ALAC is 15 people who bring from the edges the millions and billions that are out there, via a bunch of organisations, which are called at-large structures into what we call the at-large community. And that's where Sally is focusing so much of what she is saying. And that's what myICANN is about, but not for those who drink the Koolaid. It's an empowering tool and I want to give huge kudos to that. That's an excellent platform. We have to tweak it in a way or two, which we know about, but what I found is not just ability to click on and contribute as you described it, but it is one of the few times -- and I call myself fairly savvy about ICANN and what it has said or done. I had trouble finding stuff until myICANN came along. It will make your life and my life easier to engage with ICANN. It's an access tool which uses pool technology and presents to you what you want to know about.

Someone comes to the booth and says to me, tell me about this. I signed them up to myICANN. It was a much easier conversation. So thank you for communicating in a closed loop, which is a nice thing.

And everyone should be getting three other people they know to log on and register to myICANN.

>> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Thank you, Cheryl. You make it sound like a pyramid selling scheme.

Anyone else want to talk about -- it doesn't have to be myICANN, communication generally, languages, any comments or questions for Sally? Yes? There's a lady in the back. Matt is the -- keep your hand up. Keep your hand up. That's great.

Matt is on his way. >> AUDIENCE: Hello. My name is Irina and I work for the RU,

the ccTLD registry. And we run the biggest IDN, ccTLD IDN, and I'm also involved in the new gTLD and we applied for IDN as well.

So I'm extremely happy to hear about your negotiations with Microsoft. And I'm happy to hear about the progress made in the trademark link house model.

But my question is -- my concern, actually, is that I doubt that many trademark holders in my country have ever heard about this brilliant instrument. And I wonder if ICANN has any communication plan to make trademark holders aware of their trademark clearinghouse instrument, and to educate them how to use it and how to get registered.

If there is any plan of global campaign, then do you consider any potential partnership at the local level with the applicants, which might actually increase their result and the outcomes of these communications?

Thank you. >> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Thanks, Sirina. Fadi? >> FADI CHEHADE: Thank you so much. By the way, it heartens

me to congratulate you. All of us should congratulate you for the great success in Russia with the IDNs. You are 800,000 domain names in Cyrillic in Russia, and I promised your people when they visited me when they get to one million I want to be there for the party in Moscow. This is very impressive what you have done. So thank you for that.

Now, your question is spot on. There is no use for us to build a massive trademark clearinghouse. What the lady is talking about is one of the issues with creating all these new domain TLDs, Top Level Domains, is how do you protect trademarks? Because now it's not only Dot Com or Dot org or the CCCs, it's hundreds and potentially thousands of new TLDs, Top Level Domains. And say you are, I don't know, IBM, you're a big brand. Well want to protect IBM in as many places as possible. So you form IBM.green or whatever. So if you're a smaller company, you may want to do the same. Or if you're an International organisation, like I don't know, the United Nations may want to protect. So there are issues of protecting names of all kinds. And ICANN committed with community input to create a trademark clearinghouse.

What the lady is asking is do we plan to just build it and people shall find it? The answer is no. We will engage and work with the applicants and even other partners to make sure, because being stewards of the public interest means we do something about it. And we must go out and let people know that they can protect their trademarks, and there is a mechanism and a process to do that.

Now, I will just add one thing. One of the decisions we made even last week only about this, just to show you how much we are focused on what you ask, which frankly I haven't disclosed that decision yet. So this is the first time I talk about it. But Akram and I were redesigning, from an implementation standpoint, how the trademark clearinghouse will work. And we redesigned it with the community to ensure that the front end, where a trademark holder can enter their trademark into the clearinghouse and protect themselves, the front end is as diversified as possible. And that eventually there will be competition even by various companies to promote the front end and get more people to register their trademarks.

So we're even engaging the community to ensure that the word is out. So we will have ICANN work to get out there. But we will also ensure the model by which we do the clearinghouse does not end up having a monolithic single company that has, let's say, exclusivity and therefore no space for competition and reach and outreach and improvement of the service. So just as a comment on that.

But thank you, this is an excellent question that you ask. >> CHRIS DISSPAIN: I've got a gentlemen down here, Matt, who

would like to ask a question. Thank you, Fadi. Thank you. >> AUDIENCE: Thank you everybody. I'm Dimitri, from the

Ukraine. I want to bring to the attention of Fadi and everyone else in the room another thing. As a newly elected member of the iCommunity, I'm deeply worried about the thing that the Internet is made up of. Addresses. As everybody gets excited about you in the domains, you should not forget about the IP address. It's like global warming. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when. It's a question are people prepared or not? Geoff Houston said yesterday that maybe we should have something like a digital Convention, when the Government is mandated, you can call for regulation. I'm not sure that Government regulation should be the driver for IPv6 adoption, but you should have a way to reach the companies.

So, Fadi, whatever steps you think you can engage the industry or Governments to really do IPv6 as number one priority, versus the other things we can do after we do those other things, maybe we need encouragement like selling things, and pictures help.

>> STEVE CROCKER: Thank you, Dimitri. I want to recognize both you and Irina. Dot UA and dot RU implemented DNSSEC and I want to recognize you both for progressive leadership in the ccTLD space. This is a major step forward.

So on the IPv4 and IPv6 uptake, we -- several things to say about it. We have -- ICANN has a relatively modest role in terms

of our actual authority or official role. We serve the address community and provide the top level of the allocation process. We don't have any actual control over what enterprises do, over what ISPs do and so forth, and what the vendors do. But that said, we obviously can take some steps to try to help lead, raise the visibility, engage people in discussion of this.

And we have to some extent. I started this session by mentioning that we exist within an ecosystem of others who are extremely important in the Internet Governance space. And, in particular, the Internet Society has been very active with respect to IPv6 adoption. Last year was that IPv6 world day in June. And then this year, a year later, so that was a kind of one-time event. I encouraged everybody to try it out and turn on their services.

This year in June as well, an IPv6 launch day in which they encouraged companies and enterprises in general to turn on IPv6 and leave it on. So that's been part of a very substantial launch.

Now, you asked about address exhaustion, which is IPv4, and I'm talking about IPv6. What is the relationship of that? Well, obviously, the long-term answer, hopefully with a better outcome than the global warming question, is a transition over to IPv6. It's not going to be a quick transition. We're talking about something that will be measured in hopefully a small number of decades. But decades I think nonetheless is the unit of measure.

So what we have is a pool of IPv4 addresses which have been allocated and are basically mostly allocated now, and there is going to be some back and forth secondary markets and so forth. And then the IPv6 address space which will just go up and up. But the IPv4 address space will not go away. Those systems will not be shut off all at once. Sometimes down the line when there is enough IPv6 service, and when there is -- when you can reach most of the things that you do want to reach over IPv6, and people are doing that, there probably will be a relatively quick tail off in IPv4. But we're looking farther ahead in that.

So that is the general picture. And then within all of that, and maybe this is more detail than you want, but I think it's important to understand, there are key drivers for all of this. People who provide content, are they providing it over IPv4 and 6? That's very important, because that is a prerequisite for other people to use IPv6 to get to the content. And when I say content, we're talking about Amazon, for example, but we're also talking about every DNS server. We're talking about every news service. We're talking about major platforms like Facebook and Google and so forth.

The other thing, of course, is that the transport, the ISPs, have to be running IPv6. And I think we're not quite at the time

when you can get from one place in the world to every other place in the world over IPv6 native transports. So those are two markers that you can watch over a period of time. As those markers increase to full availability, the pressure on the IPv4 space will go down. So that is really the strategic view.

And that I think is the important direction to go. >> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Thank you, Steve. >> FADI CHEHADE: I think also at the next ICANN or IGF

meeting, Dimitri, we will puts Presto machines in every room. No pots. If they certify that they certify DSN, we will give them coffee pots. Maybe that is moving in the right direction. We can cooperate to get that done. But we can do that.

>> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Thank you Fadi. So I'm going to, if I may, I'll just break the flow. I know

you want to say something. But Sally talked about the board and directors and how they come from the community. And Adam Picue is here and he is on the nominating Committee for this year, which just opened up today. So I thought we might let him say a few words about board Members. Adam?

>> ADAM PICUE: Thank you very much. Good afternoon. I'm Adam Picue. I'm one of the nominating Committees. If you look at the website, you'll see an announcement that said we are looking for recruitment of candidates for ICANN. It's leadership on the board over a three-year period. The nominating Committee gets 50 percent of the board. There are a lot of board Members here. Erika. Steve is another, George Sadowsky is another. They are high quality people.

And what we need from the community, from all of you, is to find more of them. Volunteers who are willing to go along an exhausting process, but one we are very grateful for, of trying to volunteer for ICANN and taking on the leadership positions. We don't just select for the board. This year we will select three board of directors. We select for the policy, that is the generic name and country Top Level Domain names and the user group at large. These are regional positions.

We need more women in ICANN, so I'll step down in a second, and I could pass over to a fellow member, Cheryl, who is also a member of the nominating Committee. We need regional diversity and we just need very, very good people. So I hope you consider applying.

If you want to apply you can go to the nominating Committee website, which is simple. It's nomcom.icann.Org. And you'll find a lot of information. If you want to apply, do a slash at the end of that address and put "apply" and you'll be taken to an application form. If you want to suggest, and that's a nice thing to do to people, you can do noncom.icann.Org and it gives you the form and you give the name of people we will reach out to

and try to persuade them to join the organisation. Please look at the website and please help us find the best people for ICANN.

>> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Thanks, Adam. Thank you. So I've got -- Kalli wants to say something first and then

I'll go to you, if I remember, if that is all right. Then I'll move onto the next part. We will get Tarek to talk about things.

>> AUDIENCE: Just a quick note, addressing the trademark issue and the clearinghouse, which I think is vital to the process.

I couldn't help myself, I think Irina asked or related to a question pertaining to Russia. It's a minute detail that we have to keep our eyes open on when it comes to the clearinghouse in the way that the implementation, at the local level, needs to be congruent with local laws.

And from our knowledge about different emerging markets, and Russia is one of them, we found out that there may be a question mark in the way that the clearinghouse would be implemented -- applied or implemented if a local Internet Service Provider or a local Internet company in Russia was to use it. Because I think, correct me, Irina, the local laws in Russia, there is a law that you cannot charge for a service that is available for free.

So we have to have more detail, and this is a highlight to be aware that it's clear. And use it perhaps as a detail to make sure that in the implementation, the local laws are recognized so that we do not put local people in particular jeopardy where they are not compliant with the local laws. Something to keep aware of.

>> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Thank you. The gentleman who wanted to speak in the back, please put up your hand. And then this gentleman here. Please stand up, sir. Go ahead, please.

>> AUDIENCE: Thank you so much. My name is Don coming from Uganda, and I'm here as a Diplo fellow. From the panel, I want to ask ICANN, as it's trying to develop market IDNs, and trying to internationalize the Internet, I made a small observation that in this building we are having only English language posters and directions. And I wonder whether we are still on the same motive.

And the other thing I was wondering is how ICANN can help small countries in managing their ccTLDs. In some situations we have had a conflict where private countries are managing the country ccTLDs, yet a a company wants to take over the management, and there was a conflict.

>> SALLY COSTERTON: Excellent point and I'll take the point about the signs back to my review Committee on the meetings. Thank you for pointing that out.

>> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Thank you. >> And to your question on the ccTLD management, related to

the ICANN, I was the Chairman of the ccNSO so I can tell you what you need to do. You need to go and find one of the ccNSO counselors. There are many of them here, and I can point you to some of them after this. And talk to them directly about what the problem is. And they will provide you with guidance.

>> CHRIS DISSPAIN: This gentleman here. Is that you, Mary? Hello, Mary. This gentleman here. Go ahead, sir.

>> AUDIENCE: Hi. My name is Omar Ansari and I'm from the International ICT Alliance of Afghanistan.

My country is pretty much underrepresented when it comes to the technology platform. This is an issue that I'm working on to address, talking to various International platforms, so that we can get engaged with the International platforms.

And one other very major issue in Afghanistan, specifically with the Internet, is the lack of awareness, education, and understanding. And then when it comes to ICANN, very limited people know what ICANN is and what it can do and what it does.

My question is how Afghanistan, what are the programmes through which we could -- okay. What are the programmes that we could work together in collaboration with ICANN to develop this understanding and create awareness about not only ICANN but the Internet itself? That's one thing.

And the other question is how we could get engaged with ICANN. What are your specific programmes for countries like Afghanistan, post-conflict, underrepresented, and underdeveloped countries.

Thank you. >> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Sally? >> SALLY COSTERTON: Thank you. It's an excellent question

and I think probably there are many countries who are having similar issues or who might have similar issues.

I'll answer the first question, or the bigger question, how can we work together to help? The answer to that is -- this is exactly why we are here, to hear these kinds of requests.

So what I would ask you to do is to e-mail me with your details. And we will find the right person inside my team who will talk to you and your community. So it may be a small community. It may just be you, but we certainly want to talk to you. Because this is something, there are a range of different activities that we would want you to be able to participate in. We will also talk to you about how we can help join you up, connect the dots with some of the others, like ISOC, IETF, the other organisations that we can point you towards, so that there -- I don't know exactly how much there is on the ground. But I know it's more than just ICANN can offer. So that's that.

In terms of the -- and Fadi will answer the other one. >> FADI CHEHADE: On your second question, which is very

important. First of all, I must tell you I was very heartened by

your Minister's comment at the ministerial meeting. Really a superb comment; very heartfelt, but also very detailed. He made us all feel like we want to jump and go help him in Afghanistan, because of his sincerity. So thanks for that, and for what you bring to the table.

Not just your country, but other countries and other countries with also multi-stakeholders, not just Government, have now approached us saying we need a roadmap to figure out how to work with ICANN.

ICANN has a board. You just heard Adam invite you to nominate people to the board. It has staff or you can also help us. It has multiple organisations. It has multiple advisory Committees. So there is a broad set of things. But it's one thing to tell you yep, here is the graph, you know, that Sally showed. This is who we are, figure it out. It's another thing to build a roadmap that can tell you look, these are the decisions made at ICANN. This is how we make them. This is why they are made. Where they have made. This is the kind of people you can bring to the table. They would be helpful for these decisions.

That's how they can participate. So we're putting together just what I told you now. I asked Sally to do this. Because many countries, big countries, even, asked us: Show us this roadmap. And this is important because when we talk about Internationalisation, it's one thing to hand you a brochure. It's another thing to proactively give you the map so you can participate at the right level, affecting the right decisions in the right places.

So we will come back to you with that. Not just to you, not just to Afghanistan, but to all the countries that approached us.

>> CHRIS DISSPAIN: And an intensely practical suggestion, ICANN has a successful fellowship programme and you can apply to come and learn about ICANN by actually being at an ICANN meeting, by being part of the fellowship programme, so that's worth remembering as well.

One second, Mary? Want to say something? Mary, stand up, please. Thank you.

>> MARY: Thank you. I just want to say, Sally, I hear you loud and clear. You have a strategy to get to us, because there have been a yearning that ICANN should come to us. And I don't know whether you have drawn up your strategy. And one of the things that I want to suggest is that you may not be able to get to all the areas, countries, remote areas, but I would like to see champions, ICANN champions, built for each region, each continent, or even in country, that can carry on the communication to our people, to know that there is business in the domain name business and we have to bring them on. Inclusiveness is very, very key to us.

So when we ask for ICANN to be present in whatever thing we are doing, for instance, ICANN should look around to see those champions within the country or within the region, to go and actually communicate ICANN to the people that make up ICANN.

Thank you. >> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Thanks, Mary. And the last comment before we move on. The gentleman at the

back there. Sir.>> AUDIENCE: Hi. My name is Sindon from China. I have a

question for Sally. In the past several days, I heard a lot of people from the countries that say they do have comments about how -- there is a barrier for people from the developing countries to access the Internet and also to get involved in ICANN. Because I'm the new gTLD because of the problems of barriers and the finance and policy and staff.

So, my question is, do you have any developing country focused communication plan in the future? And as you all know, we are hosting the next ICANN meeting in Beijing. And we will try to say well, we have the biggest -- we are the -- one of the biggest developing countries. So hosting a successful ICANN meeting probably is not only a meet, but also a big demonstration of the new season for developing countries.

So my second question is: Do you have any developing country focused specific programme or plan in the meeting? Thank you.

>> SALLY COSTERTON: Thank you for your comments. I like the idea of presenting the Beijing meeting as a new season.

The answer is the first one is yes. We have an increasing regional and sub regional. It depends on how you define region, but in Asia Pacific and Latin America and in Africa, we are building our -- we are building our capacity in the staff sense, particularly with engagement and communications people, which I referred to at the start of my comments. We are meeting the team for the first time together the week after next to complete our stakeholder engagement plan, which will include outreach plans for as many of the key geographies as we feel we can deal with in the first six or nine months of 2013. Because you're right, Mary, you said we need to pace ourselves. We must not over promise. We must be clear about what we can do and where we need people to help.

And the second, to the second point, yes, Beijing is very much on my mind. I think it's a perfect opportunity to bring many of the strands together. It's in April. We have a little time, although I'm scared. It seems less time than I thought, actually. We're working closely with your colleagues, CNIC, but also other people in the Chinese Internet community to help us not just to run a good meeting, but to help us to use that as a platform for everyone to try to engage as deeply as we can with

local groups, with universities, with science parks, with other types of groups, who may not visit our meeting, but we use that as an opportunity to really extend our communications. So there are people responsible and there will be more.

We have an aggressive recruitment plan particularly in Asia over the next five to six months and we will certainly use the Beijing meeting as a platform, a high profile platform. So thank you for that. And I'm very glad you're as enthusiastic about it as we are.

>> FADI CHEHADE: And to Mary we are about to announce important additions to our team. And there will be a new Vice President for Africa. This will be announced shortly. We are behind on that and it's about time we will do it. So there will be announcements soon. But we are moving forward with the expansion and also not just at that level, but of going down and making sure we touch and get closer to the people who really need to hear about the message.

I like your idea of champions. We discussed it under a different label. But this is a very good idea. Young people, young people who are yearning to participate in this important enterprise.

So thank you for that, Mary. >> CHRIS DISSPAIN: As is often the case with ICANN stuff, one

subject bleeds into another subject. And now, we will move on and hear from Tarek about

Internationalisation objectives and regional strategies, which is what we have been talking about for the last five or ten minutes anyway.

Hang on a second, Tarek. >> TAREK: I'll be brief. And as we mentioned,

Internationalisation is part of our strategic objectives and goals, and we are putting a lot of emphasis on our plan on Internationalisation, with a special focus we started with Africa but also Latin America and other parts of the world. And when we talk about Internationalisation, it is with a very strategic objective: Simply inclusion. And inclusion within the ICANN constituency, inclusion within the ICANN processes, and inclusion within the ICANN meetings, and this will provide ICANN definitely more use, a better brand, but also more legitimacy worldwide.

And we have been putting a plan together with Sally. It has not yet been finalized, but it will be announced towards the beginning of the year, with our Vice Presidents, about our global engagement plan in various parts of the world.

We are doing this plan not alone, but we are doing it very closely with our constituency, and we have started with Africa. Fadi has asked us in our meeting in Prague, even before he took over his office, to build an African Working Group and build a

strategy for Africa. This has happened. And the initial plan was announced in Toronto a couple weeks ago.

How did we do that? The ICANN staff has only been a catalyst to develop the strategy. But we have Jamel with us and we had the African tLDs, and we have been hosted by AfriNIC within the development of the African strategy. So we are working closely with the IIRs when we talk about the plan and other Internationalisation (lost audio). We're not doing this alone in isolation from our allies and our friends and partners that have been working together with ICANN within the last 20 years.

Latin America is taking a similar initiative. Started in Toronto, our Vice President is leading this effort in Latin America with a similar approach as well, and we hope that by Beijing we will have something more concrete to be announced. Today we were approached by our Asia friends asking us for a similar engagement, and I believe that we will find definitely a more deeper engagement with the Asian friend within our engagement plan.

And when we talk about an engagement plan and about a strategy, it is very clear with two objectives. To strengthen ICANN presence in Africa, Latin American and the developing countries, as has been requested several times, but as well to widen the participation with the constituents of ICANN. There is a gap. We want more participation from the developing world and we want voices heard.

And with us we have the Chair, Heather Dryden, today with us working with us. So we will widen the gap and bring more participation in the gap. When we look at the developing world and the Arab world, we have been discussing that within the Arab IGF, it comes down to mobile penetration. We are coming close to the averages, even with basic Internet connectivity. It's not bad. It's getting close to the global and International averages of connectivity compared to Africa and the Arab world, for example.

But when it comes to the number of TLDs that are registered, and domains registered under the TLD, were the ccTLDs, or gTLDs, then we start to realise that we are lagging behind. This is a clear diagnosis that we have an issue. An issue that we want to -- that we have to be working on, which is develop the industry in our part of the world in order to ensure that we are included and we are part of the global industry that is evolving.

We want to see African and developing countries and Latin American and Asian registers, accredited registers, within the GNSO in order to have the voices of this part are the world really heard.

This is not happening at the time being and therefore these parts of the world feel marginalized and feel that the ICANN is

American and European centric, which is generally not true. But there is work to be done and a lot of work to be done in order to achieve that. We need definitely champions in the region, whatever ICANN champion, whatever we call them, to be partnering with us, young entrepreneurs that are motivated and ready really to become part of the global ICANN community.

We work in a bottom up process. We use it, and it has to be inclusive as much as we can. We are not going to be able to please everybody, but still we have to listen to everybody, and the process should be inclusive as much as we can.

So I welcome you, your participation in our engagement plan, our regional engagement plan on the Government as well as a regional basis.

One last thing, we have a plan for the IGO, for the first time we hired also a colleague, she is with us, Nora. She is sitting here in the middle. She is from the (inaudible). And based at the headquarters, she will overlook the strategies for the IGO, and some examples of activities that were there over the last couple months is we are engaging with the IGF. As Fadi mentioned, he had a wonderful meeting with the Undersecretary of DESA, and we have a plan to engage more and more with the IGF and to empower the IGF more and more.

We have two Members from ICANN that are already within the group; our Vice President for the Middle East, and our moderator, Chris Disspain, who is a board member. So we are engaged with the IGF and we will deepen our engagement.

Also, Ilija (stating name) is a member of (fading audio) and is a member of the informal Committee of experts that is preparing for the policy forum of the ITU next May. So we engaged with the ITU within the preparation of the (fading audio) distancing ourselves from the dialog that was there.

Our dear friend Patel mentioned the UNESCO, so we are engaged with UNESCO and with IDN readiness that they have recent -- (Audio fading)

Look at it seriously from a technical point of view but as well as from an organizational point of view. So this is our messages. We are already engaged with the IGO. Fadi wants us to deepen the engagement with the IGO. We are preparing a plan for that and we will announce it and share it with the global community to have your feedback as usual. Thank you.

>> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Thank you Tarek. Erika, do you want to say a few words as well. Erika Mann is

another one of our board Members. Erika?>> ERIKA MANN: Sorry, sir. Sorry, sir. That's okay? Okay. Thank you so much. Let me be very brief, because I think Fadi

mentioned most of the points. I think we have to stay a bit realistic when we talk about Internationalisation. It's a term

which is extremely attractive, particularly in the Internet environment. And everybody thinks it's easy and workable. I think it's one of the most complicated terms. So we have to make it reliable and practical and really understand what it means for the environment. Because when we talk about this, it's a particular segment of the overall Internet architecture. But I recommend that we stay extremely pragmatic and realistic.

We have to look at it -- it was mentioned, I'm just not going into the intellectual discussion but I want to mention the various levels that we have to look at. Sally already mentioned the team level. We started years ago to internationalise our team, and this means that the team in LA and the teams which work in our national offices are International teams. They do not represent a national perspective only, but they respect the goals of ICANN, which is presently an International community. But at the same time of course they must reflect to some degree our national concerns. Because if they are based in the European Union or Brussels or Washington, of course they reflect to some degree our national relationship and partnerships as well.

We are looking into enhancing and building more offices in different regions of the world. We already have some offices, as you know, and we have many players already and actors which are part of ICANN.

For example, our Vice Presidents, they do have an International role but they have of course a regional role as well to play as regard to their respective countries or their respective regions.

But we have to do, we have to define this better than we have done it in the past. So these things developed and evolved out of need, quite often. And as Fadi and Sally and Tarek are now saying, the board is supporting this fully. We have to have an operational and strategic plan about what we want to achieve, what ICANN is about in the system of the global Internet architecture. We have not always defined it. There are bits and pieces, but we probably have to review it and of course we have to review where do we have to be with regard to our office? What kind of regional level? Where do we have to open these kinds of offices? So we are in the middle of the discussion and we want to invite you to actually understand better what you think about it, so that the board can take a really, you know, well-grounded decision.

The same is true of course for the GAC. The Government Advisory Body. Again the Government Advisory Body is quasi International. That's the rule. But of course the Government Advisory Body reflects national positions as well. It's in an International core. And we need to discuss and talk about it,

what kind of role the Government Advisory Body will have to play, even probably more in the future. There are challenges coming out of the new gTLD environment which reflect to some degree how we see and how we observe what we call Internationalisation.

And it's a multi-stakeholder definition which we use. Again, it's in the International environment. All the different multi-stakeholder communities, all of you are operating on an International and global scale. And there are challenges arising from it, because many of you who must reflect different interests, so we will have to look at it again.

And then, finally, maybe a term which I'm personally struggling with, because we use it all the time, which relates to our work, what is called the global public interest. Sometimes we just say public interest. Well, it's very hard when you look for a definition. Yes, we have an understanding what we want to achieve of how we have to serve the global public interest. But sometimes, or maybe there is a time when we need to understand probably a bit better what it means in this very particular environment we have to serve.

So again it relates to our International role, but it relates back to the different roles which we play at the same time, either on a local or national level.

A greater understanding is needed. And let me assure you, Fadi and the whole team is working hard on it. And the same is true for the board, Steve, and Chris actually was one of the -- recently came out with some recommendations. And we had discussions about it in our -- on the board. And Consuela, who is responsible for this group, certainly will pick up the discussion that we are having here. So we are looking to have an open discussion with you. If you have ideas, just send them to us and we will look at them.

Thank you so much. >> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Thank you, Erika. I want to give the

closing words to Fadi and Steve. I can probably take one -- Cheryl. I can take one. Cheryl.

>> CHERYL: There is only one Cheryl. I just want to briefly follow on from what Adam, who didn't have much time with you, said. He left a whole lot of important information on your minds about how you may perhaps apply for one of the leadership positions within ICANN, and also how you can recommend others.

I have with me a whole bunch of very simple communications. They are business cards. And it's got all the information on it. It says please apply, one said recommend someone. I've got a box of them. There is a stack with Matt at the booth. And, Mary, you're not getting away.

Take some and pass them on to people you believe are the type of people. Think about independent director type people to

consider to be part of the puddle of people we select from. It's not a straightforward process and it's a long process and it doesn't close until the first of May next year. Thank you for indulging me.

>> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Fadi and then Steve? >> FADI CHEHADE: Sure. Just quickly. First to Asia, all the

people here from Asia, we have a great leader in the staff for our Asian work. Ju Don here. He is our Vice President and has a lot of experience and planning happening right now for how he takes ICANN to that part of the world. All of us are counting on our team to make that happen. So that is important. Truly to the people from Asia here, we went east from LA first to get to Africa, and now we are heading south to Latin America. And I hope you'll forgive us for doing this third, but we are next heading west of Los Angeles to Asia. So we will get to you and we will cover as fast as we can the needs that Asia has brought to us. And I already spoke to some of you and we will be doing things as early as this month to really reach out to the community in Asia. So thank you for waiting for us as we went in a couple directions before getting to you.

I want to recognize the board Members who are with us today, because frankly they are the quiet people who in the background make a lot of this work. And our board Members are very, very committed to ICANN.

So Bill Graham, who is here in the first row. And I go down here.

Of course Erika Mann, whom you all just heard now. We have Heather Dryden, who is not just a board member, she is

the newly re-elected chairwoman of the Government Advisory Committee of ICANN. Heather is with the Government of Canada, when we leave her any time to do anything for Canada.

Let see, any board Members back there? George Sadowsky, who is coming back, George Sadowsky who is sitting there. A board member. And if you ever have doubts that I shouldn't have been sitting here, he is the one who interviewed me so hard he could have kicked me out of the row. But if you're unhappy with me, he is the man to talk to, even though there was a whole Committee, but he ended up coming to interview me for six and a half hours nonstop. I thought I'd die at the end of the interview, but here I am.

And let's see, any other board Members? Of course Chris Disspain, who has been our gracious moderator. Chris, as he said, he is the prior Chair of the ccNSO council and someone with a deep, deep understanding of how things happen here in this world.

And to my left here is my partner, Dr. Steve Crocker, our Chairman. Our most gracious Chairman that anyone could have and

the best boss I've ever had. Really. I -- it's a remarkable relationship we have built and I'm very lucky.

I want to say one thing. Often it appears that it's all of you and then ICANN. All of us are ICANN. It's just that maybe some of us are working at it in our day jobs. But frankly I'm finding out that some people amongst you work more than us as a second job for ICANN. So all of us are ICANN.

And having said that, though, I'd like to ask the staff of ICANN, who is here, to stand up so we recognize them. Because we're really working very, very hard, even though it's our main day job. So please all of you stand so people see the ICANN staff.

(Applause)They are the people who make me look good and like I know what

I'm doing. But they really do the work. So thank you for that. Chris? >> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Thank you, Fadi. Steve would you like to

make a few closing remarks? >> STEVE CROCKER: We talk about the bottom-up process. And

you saw Fadi give recognition to the staff and I'll do the same. He calls me the best boss he has had. He's easy. We just got lucky with Fadi and we just say yes and he thinks that he gets along well with us. He does a fantastic job and the rest is easy. And all the rest of the staff, it's quite remarkable.

I opened by saying that ICANN, as much attention as we get and as intensively as we work and focus on the things that we work on, we are really part of a broader system. And I think that that is very important to keep firmly in mind. ICANN was created about 14 years ago, in response to a set of needs that were coming to a  head. The needs for having an organised and independently administered oversight of the domain addressing space, oversight of the Protocol parameters and the like. Those functions had been supported, less formally, for a very long period of time out of what was fundamentally the research community. That also generated the original technology and it was time to formalize that process. That led to the creation of ICANN. And I think one of the things that we hold very dear, we keep very strongly in mind is that we serve the community. That our sole reason for existence and our fundamental basis for legitimacy is that we are of service to the community. Not that we control or own anything or that we have natural rights to anything; it's the opposite. We derive our legitimacy solely from whether or not we perform the services and perform the services well that the community needs.

That's a rare strong organizing principle and motivator. It is what keeps some extraordinarily talented and committed people involved and working together as a people, and embracing the

openness that is the Hallmark of the Internet and certainly the Hallmark of the ICANN community.

So with that, I think we are all ready to bring this session and indeed this is what I think is the last session for most of us here, to a close. So thank you all.

>> CHRIS DISSPAIN: Thank you everybody.(Applause)(End of session, 18:00)

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