Monday @ ICANN Wellington 2006

Well, we made it to Wellington OK yesterday afternoon. A fine day
greeted us in, which I am told is unusual.
We were also able to attend the ICANN Bar last night, which was a good
place to interact with other delegates.

I was also quite impressed with the efficiency of the registration
process at the conference. I guess experience can build efficiency!

This morning saw the welcome ceremony with Vint Cerf, Paul Twomey and 2
Ministers from the NZ Govt - Hon. Cunliffe (IT) and Hon. Laban.
There were some interesting comments in Cunliffe's address, primary
amongst which was an emphatical endorsement of ICANN and its role in
the internet. He also highlighted the need for SPAM control legislation
and increasing and improving internet usage and access in NZ. I do hope
his enthusiasm and goodwill extends to the Forum Communications meeting
later this week as well, and he attempts to impress the views and
comments he put forth during his address to the Forum attendees.

There was a session with Lynn St Amour, ISOC CEO later in the morning
which turned out to be a good session as well. A lot of things were
covered, including a committment from Lynn to support local chapter
activities and inter-regional chapter initiatives. We also discussed the
role
ISOC plays in the internet and what we can do to educate (particularly)
Government officials on the workings of the internet. Hopefully we can
work on the issues discussed and move towards improving the relationship
with ISOC HQ and Chapters.

The afternoon was spent at ALAC including sitting in on their Committee
Meeting. It appears the biggest issue at hand here is how to get the
ICANN Board to listen to ALAC. There seems to be a lot of frustration on
the actual purpose (and dare I say relevance) in the overall scheme
of things at ICANN.

There were also GAC sessions today which were closed sessions (something
I don't see the point of - what is so secretive that is being discussed?
I think it is closed for the sake of being a closed session and hanging
on to old school government bureacracy rather than any other completely
valid
reason). There was also a NSO session and the biggest news here is the
recent Canadian action in putting forth their negative views on the
current state of affairs at ICANN - they have also stopped their
voluntary contributions to the ICANN machinery).

Late this afternoon is an open session between the ICANN Board and GAC
which could be interesting. Let's see what happens there.