IP: Eric Lee Green on what "cyber-libertarians" don't get

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 17:12:54 -0500
> From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
>
> [Anyone want to reply? --Declan]
>
>
> ----- Forwarded message from owner-politech () politechbot com -----
>
> From: Eric Lee Green <eric () badtux org>
> Organization: BadTux: Linux Penguin Gone Bad (http://badtux.org)
> To: politech () politechbot com
> Subject: eResolution pulls out
> Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 14:52:07 -0700
>
> http://www.eresolution.com/pr/30_11_01.htm
>
> Domain name dispute resolution outfit eResolution has pulled out, saying that
> the "shopping" provisions of the ICANN process inherently bias the process in
> favor of outfits that blindly rubber-stamp the trademark owner's request for
> the domain. Acknowledgement of the failure of the ICANN system is perhaps the
> end of the cyber-libertarian's dream of an Internet governed by private
> courts, rather than by government courts.
>
> This also exposes one of the inherent flaws of private courts: specifically,
> that they have a financial reason to rule one way or the other. There are
> some groups, such as credit card and insurance companies, that have
> specifically set up their own private courts (e.g. "National Arbitration
> Forum") for exactly this reason after the government courts ruled against
> them in fraud and financial misconduct cases. Do a Google search if you
> wonder how their own private kangaroo courts rule.
>
> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=national+arbitration+forum+first+usa+99.6
>
> Government courts have their own flaws. But at least they don't have a
> financial incentive to rule one way or the other. Free enterprise in the
> courts business has been a staple of libertarian literature for years.
> Unfortunately, the experience of the past 20 years of Supreme Court
> revisionism regarding contract law and arbitration, with ICANN, NAF, and
> others as examples, shows that it just doesn't work. The profit motive seems
> to be inherently incompatible with justice.
>
> Eric Lee Green          GnuPG public key at http://badtux.org/eric/eric.gpg
>            mailto:eric () badtux org  Web: http://www.badtux.org
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----

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