ICANN takes a lot of heat whenever it makes a bad decision. That is a good thing, since they hold the keys to online commerce, which is essentially baked into all forms of commerce at this point. Whether or not they make a good decision when considering a new policy or implementing policy it is vital to billions of people who use the Internet every day in their jobs, for their families, in their ministries, and in their classrooms. What often doesn’t happen, however, is that no one praises ICANN when they make a good decision. I guess its human nature. Well, I’m breaking with tradition.

Krista Papac, previously of the Global Domains Division of ICANN, has been named to be their first Complaints Officer. The ICANN press release can be found here and the role of the ICANN Complaints Officer was described here as:

“The Complaints Officer is an important role that will provide a focus point for the community if they have complaints about the ICANN organization. It is an additional way to keep the organization and me accountable to you, the global ICANN community. The purpose of the office is to ensure that complaints and particularly those of community members, about systemic issues or concerns about the organization are heard, reviewed, analyzed and resolved as openly as appropriate. I want to be clear though that this in no way replaces or supersedes the important role of all ICANN’s formal accountability mechanisms.”

Krista had years of industry experience prior to joining ICANN a few years ago and is held in high esteem by almost everyone in the business. She is a straight shooter who can be counted on to follow up on her promises. Most importantly, she is a creative thinking problem solver. Her new role will be an interesting one as it is not completely clear which complaints she will handle and which complaints the ICANN Ombudsman will continue to handle. No doubt all of that will become more clear as Krista builds out her staff and brings clarity to her role.

Watch for more updates this week from us as ICANN has its 58th meeting in Copenhagen. On the docket for discussion are changes to rights protection mechanisms, ICANN’s jurisdiction, ICANN’s treatment of human rights, and much more.