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IP: ICANN assumes control of all country codes Fwd:Froomkin's take on .au matter
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 05 Sep 2001 13:58:50 -0400
X-Sender: cook () pop3 netaxs com Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 13:24:35 -0400 To: dave () farber net From: Gordon Cook <cook () cookreport com> Subject: ICANN assumes control of all country codes Fwd:Froomkin's take on .au matter X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by linc.cis.upenn.edu id f85HQWJ24001 dave I know you are jet lagged, but if you cant sleep tonight, PLEASE read this entire URL essay on ICANN watch by Michael Froomkin. IF your IP readers are concerned about the survival of an end controlled internet with room for the little guy, they better start going to the respective congressional committees of which Senator Hollings may be a good place to start. Important congress critters are Tauzin and Dingell (House communications) House Sub committee on Telecom and the Internet Fred Upton is chair subcommittee. Ed Markey is ranking member. (Known to dislike Icann.) John Shimkus (Illinois rep) Chip Pickering active and important bellweather. Tom Davis is the representative from Network Solutions write off as a lossĀ. On demo side not much clue beside Markey. Senate Commerce Chair Hollings is critical and in fact has a key staffer who is knowledgeable on this issue having been an ISP sys admin! Rockefeller has been active but his key staffer has just gone to FCC John Kerry (Mass) is knowledgeable Senator Boxer needs to be educated having had a bad experience with a cyber squatter Senator Burns is knowledgeable Activate commerce committees which are frustrated but understand that when they get unhappy and they do that the intellectual property people on the judiciary committees come out in ICANN's favor and succeed in squelching any rebellion. Therefore judiciary committees need to be involved as well. Leahy must be made understand from freedom of speech issues Barney Franks in the house judiciary committee is sympathetic and very important Zoe Loefgreen (spelling?) commerce (?) Zoe is the silicon valley representative and has clues.Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 10:12:01 -0400 (EDT) From: "Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law" <froomkin () law miami edu>http://www.icannwatch.org/essays/dotau.htm --How ICANN Policy Is Made (II) A. Michael Froomkin ICANNWatch.org In a watershed moment in Internet history, ICANN declared this week that the ICANN staff can re-assign the .au ccTLD at will, without a finding of misconduct, without a public comment process, and despite the opposition of the incumbent ccTLD manager. In so doing, ICANN in effect simultaneously declared that it can redelegate a functioning ccTLD over the opposition of the current delegate; that controversial dictates of the so-called ICANN Government Advisory Committee (GAC) will be treated as ICANN policy even if they have never been voted on by any other part of the ICANN machinery; that a major change on redelegation policies will be made in secret, without any public discussion; that a major decision on the governance of a functioning TLD will be taken unilaterally and secretly by the ICANN staff, without either a publicly documented comment period or a vote of the DNSO or the ICANN Board. that it's ICANN/GAC policy to support the creation of national mini-ICANNs as an end-run around ordinary government procedures. All this from one report recommending the redelegation of .au? Yes. Even if you like this outcome, and there are reasons why you might or might not, there's quite a lot to be concerned about how ICANN got there and what this tells us about where ICANN is going. [Snip] here is the conclusion by froomkin: Why This Is Serious ICANN now takes the view that if a government wants to take a ccTLD, or wants it delegated to its mini-ICANN, "IANA" can do that, without a finding of fault on the behalf of the existing ccTLD operator. There are three grounds for concern in this story. The first, as I've suggested in this narrative, is that ICANN persists with the fiction of IANA to the detriment of open processes. This is dangerous. The second, also set out above, is that ICANN creates new policies on the fly -- this time with the added bonus of turning GAC's advisory role into one of pure policymaking, unmediated by any other ICANN body. This too is dangerous. The third is that ICANN's new policy essentially puts governments in control of ccTLDs. That's complicated, but subtly dangerous too. Ultimately, I think governments can, and should be, allowed to exert control over ccTLDs designed to serve their nations. RFC 1591 requires that the ccTLD operator have a local presence, and that means that governments will always have the power to regulate (or even jail) the ccTLD operator. But in democratic governments, regulatory decisions have to be made according to established and legitimate processes. Taking a functioning ccTLD from someone against their will is not something a democratic government would necessarily find it easy to do. Similarly, all sorts of ccTLD regulations -- the UDRP comes to mind -- may only be possible if enacted through ICANN, or a series of mini-ICANNs. ICANN was already a means by which the US government did an end-run around ordinary government procedures. Now ICANN's taking the show on the road. Useful links Story in The Australian http://it.mycareer.com.au/breaking/2001/09/03/FFXQIBM55RC.html slashdot discussion Sydney Morning Herald story -- **************************************************************** The COOK Report on Internet, 431 Greenway Ave, Ewing, NJ 08618 USA (609) 882-2572 (phone & fax) cook () cookreport com Index to 9 years of the COOK Report at http://cookreport.com From now through Sept 15th half price sale on university library site license and access to ALL back issues. Site license $575 and all back issues $300. http://cookreport.com/sale.shtml ****************************************************************
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- IP: ICANN assumes control of all country codes Fwd:Froomkin's take on .au matter David Farber (Sep 05)