[cooperation-wg] Any response to the NRO/ASO request to ICANN?

Dear colleagues,

Jim, you’ve raised an important point here, and I wanted to give an answer from the RIPE NCC perspective, particularly given some of the complexities involved. 

First, it is important to note that this is a request to the ICANN Board from the NRO Executive Council (the five RIR CEOs, including, at the current time, the RIPE NCC interim management team*), in their role as the ICANN Address Supporting Organization (ASO), which is itself an entity within ICANN’s Empowered Community (the structure established following the IANA stewardship transition and the work of the ICANN Cross-Community Working Group on Accountability). So the decision to send this request to ICANN was not the RIPE NCC’s alone. 

The text of the request itself attempted to detail the reasoning, but I am happy to paraphrase: the ASO (that is, the five RIR organisations) believes that any decision made by ICANN in regard to the PIR sale would represent a significant Internet governance event, not simply in relation to its impact on the DNS; as such, it would be an important decision for ICANN, its board, the organisation and the community. As a “Decisional Participant in the Empowered Community”, the ASO felt it important to be fully aware of all relevant information ahead of any such decision being made, in the interests of due diligence.  

The RIPE NCC is, of course, committed to ensuring that our community and membership are informed of any developments in relation to this request or the RIRs’ relationship with ICANN. 

Best regards,

Chris


Chris Buckridge
Head of External Relations
RIPE NCC


* The RIPE NCC interim management team is made up of the Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Operating Officer and the Chief Information Officer. Please note, however, that Kaveh Ranjbar, as both the RIPE NCC Chief Information Officer and a non-voting member of the ICANN Board (as the RSSAC Liaison) has recused himself from any discussions relating to this matter.


> On 6 Feb 2020, at 12:39, Jim Reid <jim at rfc1035.com> wrote:
> 
> On 6 Feb 2020, at 11:27, Nick Hilliard (INEX) <nick at inex.ie> wrote:
>> 
>> Can someone point out the bit in this letter which strives for transparency?  I'm struggling to find it.
> 
> I’m struggling to find the bit which makes the sale of PIR a matter for the NRO/ASO.
> 
> Why is a body representing the *numbering* community getting itself involved in an issue for the *naming* community?
> 
> I don’t recall seeing much (any?) discussion of the PIR sale on RIPE’s lists. So with little or no bottom-up input I don’t understand how this issue made its way on the ASO/NRO’s agenda.
> 
> Can somebody explain?
> 
>