ICANN's Three Envelopes

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

The following statement is hopefully wrong:

"(ICANN), the agency responsible for administering the Internet,"

Djf

------ Forwarded Message
From: Michael Geist <mgeist () uottawa ca>
Date: Thu, 07 Nov 2002 05:12:37 -0500
To: dave () farber net
Subject: ICANN's Three Envelopes

Dave,

My latest Globe and Mail cyberlaw column may interest.  It assesses
last week's developments at the ICANN meeting in Shanghai, arguing
that the rubber-stamping of the reform process is actually a
side-show for what is really happening -- the battle between national
governments for eventual control over the domain name system.  Column
at
<http://shorl.com/hapetipotrani> <[Globe and Mail]>
<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/printarticle/gam/2002110
7/TWGEIS>

Full text below.

MG

 From globeandmail.com, Thursday, November  7, 2002

Internet turf war playing out

MICHAEL GEIST

Last week in Shanghai, Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN), the agency responsible for administering the Internet,
conducted the most important meeting in its brief history. Following
months of debate on institutional reform, the ICANN board approved
the elimination of board positions reserved for the general public,
shelved plans for Internet user participation through on-line
elections and removed most of the mechanisms that hold ICANN
accountable.

This recent round of reforms brings to mind the story of the new
executive, who on his first day of work is greeted by three envelopes
on his desk with instructions to open one in the event of trouble.
The company runs smoothly at first, but trouble soon arises and the
executive opens the first envelope. It advises him to blame his
predecessor. That succeeds in the short term, but soon new
difficulties arise. The executive opens the second envelope. It
advises him to restructure the organization. That again succeeds, but
soon the executive is faced with more trouble. He opens the third
envelope only to find instructions to prepare three envelopes.

The completion of the ICANN reform process marks the conclusion of
the second-envelope stage. ICANN first blamed its problems on
governance and policies that preceded it and then moved to radically
reform itself by eliminating many of the checks and balances that
were developed to ensure wide consensus on new policy initiatives.

While these moves may have bought it time -- in September, the U.S.
government, which has consistently exercised its authority over the
domain name system, extended the agreement granting ICANN power to
run the Internet domain name system for another year -- governments
of the world are now making clear their desire for a more prominent
role on matters of Internet governance.

For example, European countries are plainly uncomfortable with U.S.
control over the Internet. Although the U.S. government pledged to
relinquish its power to ICANN back in 1998, that still has not
happened. One of the most important developments at the Shanghai
meeting was the announcement that the European Commission will assume
leadership over ICANN's governmental advisory committee, a key
vehicle to influence the agency's policy.

The United States seems unable to develop a single coherent policy on
ICANN. Until recently, Internet governance seemed inconsequential to
the Bush administration, which did little to tip its hand on the
subject. Several members of Congress, on the other hand, playing to
U.S. protectionist sentiment in this election year, have been much
more vocal by raising the prospect of greater U.S. control.

The Canadian government made its views known as part of an ICANN
consultation process it launched late last summer. While Ottawa
acknowledged the need for ICANN reform, it was the only government to
openly voice its support for the continuation of board positions for
the general public through on-line elections. It also hinted at its
concern over U.S. control, applauding Washington's activity to date
but advocating the development of a process that facilitates broader
governmental participation.

As governments play out this Internet turf war, the organization most
likely to emerge as the governance leader is the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU), an international body with 189 member
countries. The ITU has long vied for Internet governance
responsibility, arguing that it possesses the experience and
expertise needed to develop consensus policy positions that will
satisfy governments worldwide.

Last month, ITU issued its clearest signal yet that governments are
looking for a change. Under the title Internet Names: A Matter for
Both Government and Private Sector, it approved a resolution on the
management of multilingual domain names.

The resolution marks a dramatic change in approach to Internet
governance. While ICANN was created with the belief in private sector
leadership on domain name matters, government is now of the view that
it must also play an active role on these issues.

This battle between government and the private sector may reach its
climax in Montreal in June, 2003, when ICANN will hold its first
meeting in North America in almost three years. Internet governance
will be very much on the minds of many governments as they prepare to
be greeted by their own collection of envelopes.

Michael Geist is a law professor at the University of Ottawa and
technology counsel with the law firm Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. He
is on-line at http://www.lawbytes.ca and http://www.osler.com.
-- 
**********************************************************************
Professor Michael A. Geist
University of Ottawa Law School, Common Law Section
Technology Counsel, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
57 Louis Pasteur St., P.O. Box 450, Stn. A, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5
Tel: 613-562-5800, x3319     Fax: 613-562-5124
mgeist () pobox com              http://www.lawbytes.ca

BNA's Internet Law News - http://www.bna.com/ilaw
G & M Cyberlaw column - http://www.globetechnology.com
Internet Law Text - http://www.captus.com/Information/inetlaw-flyer.htm
Canadian Internet Law Resource Page (CILRP) at: http://www.cilrp.org/
ICANN UDRP Info at http://www.udrpinfo.com


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