more on ICANN's "ex-ex-ex" domains and the slippery slope (fwd)

["David J. Farber" <dave () farber net>]

===== Forwarded message from Joichi Ito <jito () neoteny com> =====

\From: Joichi Ito <jito () neoteny com>
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] more on ICANN's "ex-ex-ex" domains and the slippery slope
Date: Fri, 03 Jun 2005 09:05:25 +0900

Dave:

http://joi.ito.com/archives/2005/06/03/ 
some_notes_on_the_xxx_top_level_domain.html

Please read the blog entry because it has links. I have included the  
text below for convenience.

---

Yesterday the ICANN board discussed and approved ICANN staff to enter  
into negotiations with ICM Registry, Inc. for the .XXX Top Level  
Domain (TLD). I'm sure there will be a longer more complete  
presentation from ICANN later about this, but as an individual board  
member I thought I'd post a quick note before people got carried away  
with speculation based on a lack of information.

I realize that the formal documents on the ICANN page are difficult  
to read, but I suggest people take a look at the actual application  
before jumping to conclusions about what the .XXX TLD is. It is  
actually a balanced and well thought out structure that provides a  
balanced approach to an issue with many stake holders.

The .XXX TLD is a sponsored TLD or sTLD with a sponsoring  
organization. Policy will be managed by a non-profit organization  
called the International Foundation for Online Responsibility  
(IFFOR). (Here is the org chart.) IFFOR will have a board of  
directors comprised of members from several supporting organizations.  
These organizations include 1) privacy, security & child advocacy, 2)  
free expression, 3) online adult-entertainment and board members  
selected through a nomination committee system similar to ICANN. No  
one constituency can capture the board and all have a say. There will  
be an Ombudsman. The organization has demonstrated strong support  
from all of the constituencies and also the credit card industry. A  
portion of all of the revenue from domain names will go to a fund  
that a Grant Advisory Committee will use to support child advocacy.  
Credit card companies are working with the legitimate adult sites to  
create incentives for them to switch to .XXX.

ICANN has been mandated with trying to increase the TLD space and  
the .XXX proposal, in my opinion, has met the criteria set out in the  
RFP. Our approval of .XXX is a decision based on whether .XXX met the  
criteria and does not endorse or condone any particular type of  
content or moral belief. This is not the role of ICANN. I realize  
that some will view this as ICANN endorsing pornography on the  
Internet, but this is not the case.

There are people who are concerned about censorship and control.  
These are issues that have been raised, but I think the .XXX proposal  
is more about creating incentives for legitimate adult entertainment  
sites to come together and fight "bad actors" and is not focused on  
forcing people to use the .XXX domain.

Some people have argued that there has not been enough public debate,  
but we have been taking public comments for quite a while. We DO read  
them and have encouraged people to discuss their issues with us  
through the process. I believe we followed a rigorous process. We  
started with an RFP and over the last 15 months, we have had  
independent evaluators, numerous meetings, public discussion and  
public comments.

I think Brett Fausett summarized the situation well on his blog.

>     The decision on .XXX may be one of the most difficult ICANN has  
> ever made, and you can expect ICANN to be criticized whatever it  
> decides. I imagine that many of the countries participating in the  
> GAC aren't ready to be part of a decision that will endorse a space  
> for pr0n on the Internet. The fact that .XXX could be a political  
> hook on which the governments of the world could hang Internet  
> zoning laws could make the decision more palatable, but it's still  
> a political minefield for ICANN. Again, I hope the proposal is  
> accepted, but it's going to take a great deal of courage to do that.

I think any decision would have had strong critics. I believe we have  
made the best decision possible considering all of the issues  
involved. Having said that staff are now negotiating the contract. If  
anyone has any thoughts that we should consider in negotiating the  
contract I would be happy to hear them. Staff are working hard to  
produce a contract that ensures that the TLD functions as advertised.




===== End forwarded message =====

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