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→Conflicts of Interest
Following these developments, ICANN announced it would hire outside ethics experts to review its policies and make recommendations. The decision was made during a September, 2011 meeting of the [[Board Governance Committee]].<ref>[http://domainincite.com/icann-to-hire-conflict-of-interest-experts/ ICANN to Hire Conflict of Interest Experts]</ref> This resulted in a new Conflict of Interest Policy for members of the Board and others, released on December 8th, 2011, and effective immediately. The policy requires disclosure to the Board Governance Committee of any and all potential conflicts of interest, and subsequent abstention from ICANN activities related to the conflict of interest.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/committees/board-governance/coi/ ICANN Conflict of Interest Policy]</ref> Board Members also may not join business with a new gTLD registry until 12 months after the registry's application has been voted on.<ref>[http://news.dot-nxt.com/2011/12/13/icann-board-dec-minutes ICANN Board December Minutes, dot-nxt.com]</ref>
Following these developments, ICANN announced it would hire outside ethics experts to review its policies and make recommendations. The decision was made during a September, 2011 meeting of the [[Board Governance Committee]].<ref>[http://domainincite.com/icann-to-hire-conflict-of-interest-experts/ ICANN to Hire Conflict of Interest Experts]</ref> This resulted in a new Conflict of Interest Policy for members of the Board and others, released on December 8th, 2011, and effective immediately. The policy requires disclosure to the Board Governance Committee of any and all potential conflicts of interest, and subsequent abstention from ICANN activities related to the conflict of interest.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/committees/board-governance/coi/ ICANN Conflict of Interest Policy]</ref> Board Members also may not join business with a new gTLD registry until 12 months after the registry's application has been voted on.<ref>[http://news.dot-nxt.com/2011/12/13/icann-board-dec-minutes ICANN Board December Minutes, dot-nxt.com]</ref>
===New gTLD Votes===
===New gTLD Votes===
A prominent example of ICANN Directors excusing themselves from voting per the new COI policies occurred at a Board meeting held in February, 2012. At that meeting, the board had a matter related to confirming a second round of [[New gTLD Program|new gTLDs]] in front of them, and 7 directors abstained from voting as per the new COI policy. Those directors were: [[Steve Crocker]] (CEO of consulting firm, [[Shinkuro]]), [[Bruce Tonkin]] (CSO at [[Melbourne IT]]), [[Sébastien Bachollet]] (CEO of [[BBS International Consulting]]), [[Bertrand de la Chapelle]] (International Diplomatic Academy), [[Thomas Narten]] (Senior Engineer, [[IBM]]), [[Ram Mohan]] (Non-voting Member, EVP at [[Afilias]]), and [[Suzanne Woolf]] (Non-voting Member, [[ISC]]). Two directors, [[Kuo-Wei Wu]] and [[Thomas Roessler]], had previously abstained at a December vote related to new gTLDs, but were once again declaring no conflict at the February meeting.<ref>[http://domainincite.com/seven-icann-directors-have-new-gtld-conflicts/ Seven ICANN Directors Have New gTLD Conflicts, DomainIncite.com]</ref>
A prominent example of ICANN Directors excusing themselves from voting per the new COI policies occurred at a Board meeting held in February, 2012. At that meeting, the board had a matter related to confirming a second round of [[New gTLD Program|new gTLDs]] in front of them, and 7 directors abstained from voting as per the new COI policy. Those directors were: [[Steve Crocker]] (CEO of consulting firm, [[Shinkuro]]), [[Bruce Tonkin]] (CSO at [[Melbourne IT]]), [[Sébastien Bachollet]] (CEO of [[BBS International Consulting]]), [[Bertrand de la Chapelle]] (International Diplomatic Academy), [[Thomas Narten]] (Senior Engineer, [[IBM]]), [[Ram Mohan]] (Non-voting Member, EVP at [[Afilias]]), and [[Suzanne Woolf]] (Non-voting Member, [[ISC]]). Two directors, [[Kuo-Wei Wu]] and [[Thomas Roessler]], had previously abstained at a December vote related to new gTLDs, but were once again declaring no conflict at the February meeting.<ref>[http://domainincite.com/seven-icann-directors-have-new-gtld-conflicts/ Seven ICANN Directors Have New gTLD Conflicts, DomainIncite.com]</ref>
===Rod Beckstrom's Speech===
At the opening ceremony for [[ICANN 43]] in San Jose, Costa Rica, [[Rod Beckstrom]] criticized the Board and [[NomCom]] for their insularity. He said, "ICANN must be able to act for the public good while placing commercial and financial interests in the appropriate context. How can it do this if all top leadership is from the very domain name industry it is supposed to coordinate independently?” He claimed that the NomCom's structure poses a significant threat to ICANN, and stated that the Committee, which appoints half of the Board's voting Directors, should be "free of conflicts," and should appoint candidates that are “financially independent of the domain name industry." He said that ideally, a fully independent and non-conflicted NomCom should be in place before the nominations for the next round of Board appointments begins.<ref>[http://domainincite.com/8126-beckstrom-slams-his-own-board-over-conflicts Beckstrom slams his own board over conflicts, domainincite.com]</ref>
The industry response to his speech was mixed. While some chalked it up to the former CEO attempting to shift attention away from his own failures,<ref>[http://crookedtimber.org/2012/03/13/icanns-departing-ceo-burning-down-the-house/ ICANN’s Departing CEO: Burning Down the House, icann.org]</ref> others noted that some of his statements were based in truth. [[Kieren McCarthy]] pointed out in his response to the speech that some of the Board's seats have been occupied by the same person or rotating sets of people for almost a decade, and that a few had been appointed to the Board from other leadership positions within ICANN. Only five of the 21 Members of the Board, at the time of the speech, had come from outside of ICANN's internal groups, and all five of those delegates had been selected by the NomCom, who themselves were chosen from within ICANN. McCarthy also noted that outside voices are frequently ignored or overruled by the Board and the NomCom, including mandatory independent reviews.<ref>[http://news.dot-nxt.com/2012/03/14/beckstrom-right-for-wrong-reasons Why Beckstrom's got a point, even if it's for the wrong reasons, dot-nxt.com]</ref>
==References==
==References==