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[rpd] Statement from the authors of Soft Landing Overhall (AFPUB-2016-V4-002-DRAFT01)

Andrew Alston Andrew.Alston at liquidtelecom.com
Mon Dec 12 15:23:56 UTC 2016


Dear Community Members,

For those of you who were not in the room in Mauritius during the last PDP session. During the policy meeting there was clear indication from the community in the room that they wished to see the authors of both AFPUB-2016-V4-002-DRAFT01 (Soft Landing Overhaul) and the authors of AFPUB-2016-V4-001-DRAFT03 (IPv4 Soft Landing-bis) withdraw their policies and then go away and work together to come up with a mutually acceptable policy, so that the community was not forced to decide between two competing policies that directly contradicted each other.

We, as authors of AFPUB-2016-V4-002-DRAFT01 offered a mutual withdrawal as an act of good faith and stated that we were willing to work together with the authors of the Soft Landing-BIS proposal to come up with a new policy.  The authors of the Soft Landing-BIS policy clearly indicated from the table that they were prepared to agree to this.    At that point, we assumed that the withdrawal would be mutual and we would go away and work on together for mutual community benefit.  The time then came to go to the microphone and jointly withdraw.  Unfortunately, one of the authors of Soft Landing-BIS policy then went to the microphone and reneged on the agreement that had been publicly made before the community.  It is the impression of myself and my co-authors that one of the authors of the Soft Landing-BIS policy had a clear intention to act in good faith, however one of the authors reneged on the promise to us and the community and hence, this individual was constrained in what he could do.  At this point, to honor our commitment to the community, we unilaterally withdrew our policy, and we stand by that withdrawal.

It should also be stated, at this point that our withdrawal of our policy was not, and will never be, a withdrawal to our substantial, sustained and valid objections to many aspects of the Soft Landing-BIS policy.

It is now our contention as the authors of the Overhall policy, that sadly, working jointly with the authors of the Soft Landing-BIS policy (and in particular with the individual who reneged on the agreement given to the community) has now become impossible, since we feel that we, and the community were lied to.  The video transcripts will clearly demonstrate the agreement to withdraw both policies, and the change of heart when the time came to follow through.  We feel that we cannot in good conscience proceed to drafting a revised version of the policy when the authors of the other policy can change their mind at the microphone after expressing things to the community, and we feel that policy authorship must be done in an atmosphere or mutual trust and respect – and while we were prepared to explore this, the authors (or one of them in particular) of the Soft Landing-BIS policy have in essence demonstrated bad faith and a complete lack of respect to the community we are all part of.

As such, we will be considering our options to put forward a new and modified policy, and we therefore invite ALL members of the community who wish to join us in finding a mutually acceptable policy to come forward and talk to us. Send us your ideas and if you wish, we will expand the co-author list. We heard the community wish and we acted in that good faith. We feel we cannot however work with people who turn away from their words and disregard the community will.

We needed to ensure that the community understand our position and we assure each and every one of you that we have and will always be working in our community interest.  We look forward to working with every single one of you in finding a policy that will be acceptable to all members of this community, irrespective of size of organization or sector from which you stem.

The authors of the Soft Landing Overhall policy would also be remiss if we did not express our extreme concern that this community is now represented at the ASO by an individual who could display such blatant bad faith and walk away from promises to this community in the manner that was done.

Yours Sincerely

Andrew Alston
Kris Seeburn
Mark Elkins
Michele McCann
John Walubengo
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