Security and Stability Advisory Committee

Statement Concerning Conflicts of Interest Within the Security and Stability Advisory Committee

Information about the charter and membership of the Committee is posted at <http://www.icann.org/committees/security/>.

The Committee is composed of volunteers, each an outstanding technical contributor in his or her own organization and in the community at large. The Committee serves without pay. Although constituted as an advisory committee to the board of ICANN, the Committee also chooses topics to examine and speaks to the community as a whole as well as to ICANN's board, management and other committees and councils.

Because the Committee is composed of people actively working in the field, conflicts of interest arise from time to time. Committee members are expected to declare conflicts of interest, whether actual, potential or apparent, but Committee members are not required or expected to recuse themselves. The Committee is an advisory body, not a decision-making or enforcement organization, and its recommendations and reports are intended for others to read and consider in their actions. In the current activity of examining the effects of the changes to the COM and NET domains, several members work for companies either doing business with VeriSign or competing with VeriSign. In all cases, the members have made their situations clear and have been careful to provide technical information without attempting to influence others on the Committee. The Committee operates with a high degree of mutual respect and rapport among the members. The Committee believes everyone is best served if the lines of communication are kept open, particularly when examining contentious issues.

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