The Accountability and Transparency Review Team (ATRT) has selected [PDF, 49 KB] the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School as an Independent Expert to assist the ATRT in its review under the Affirmation of Commitments (AoC). In addition to assisting the ATRT with its review, the Berkman Center team is specifically tasked to conduct an analysis of case studies that were suggested to the ATRT by the ICANN community during its interactions with the community at the ICANN meeting in Brussels, Belgium

ICANN has announced today (6 July) that it has signed an Accountability Framework with the country code top level domain (ccTLD) manager for .AN (Netherlands Antilles),the Universiteit van de Nederlandse Antillen (UNA), on 23 June 2010. The Accountability Framework program provides two mechanisms by which ccTLD managers can formalise their relationship with ICANN. The first is an Accountability Framework document that sets out the obligations of a ccTLD manager and ICANN

ICANN has announced today (6 July) that it has signed an Accountability Framework with the country code top level domain (ccTLD) manager for .EC (Ecuador), NIC.EC (NICEC) S.A, on 23 June 2010.

ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom, ICANN senior staff and the Accountability and Transparency Review Team met in Brussels on Thursday, June 24, and agreed on the following: “ICANN’s strength is built on its diversity of views and experiences and on its wealth of knowledgeable people with a variety of interests in and perspectives on the ICANN process. We welcome the fact that the team includes a range of community voices. Our goal is a fair, constructive and objective review process, conducted with full transparency, that leads to a better ICANN, and to that end ICANN staff and the review team will work together in an atmosphere of mutual respect

In the Affirmation of Commitments (AoC), ICANN commits to maintain and improve robust mechanisms for public input, accountability and transparency so as to ensure that the outcomes of its decision-making reflect the public interest and are accountable to all stakeholders. To this end, the AoC prescribes the setting-up of a Review Team as to evaluate ICANN’s Accountability and Transparency – this led to the creation of the first ATRT in March 2010. In its examination of ICANN’s activities, the first ATRT recently published Questions to the Community for Public Comment .

In the Affirmation of Commitments (AoC), ICANN commits to maintain and improve robust mechanisms for public input, accountability and transparency so as to ensure that the outcomes of its decision-making reflect the public interest and are accountable to all stakeholders.

Explanation/Background: In the Affirmation of Commitments (AoC), ICANN commits to maintain and improve robust mechanisms for public input, accountability and transparency so as to ensure that the outcomes of its decision-making will reflect the public interest and be accountable to all stakeholders. The AoC Accountability and Transparency Review Team (ATRT) is in the process of analyzing stakeholder and community input that has been submitted on these topics prior to the AoC (i.e. comments on Improving Institutional Confidence, submissions to the NTIA NOI on expiration of the JPA, etc.)

HSBC Database Breach Highlights Lack Of Accountability For IT Super Users As new details continue to emerge this month about an initially undetected large-scale database pilfering by a former IT worker at HSBC, security experts hope it will highlight one of the most glaring weaknesses in many a financial institution’s database protection scheme: poor accountability for IT super users. The breach was initially uncovered late last year, when former HSBC IT specialist Herve Falciani tried to sell the records of an unknown number of Swiss accounts held by French customers to officials in France charged with hunting down tax evaders

On 22 March,ICANN has signed an exchange of letters with the ccTLD Manager for Georgia, .GE . The first step was an Accountability Framework document between the ccTLD Manager for Georgia and ICANN.This document sets the obligations of the ccTLD Manager for Georgia  and ICANN.