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

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Carl Malamud <carl () media org>
Date: June 3, 2005 8:42:16 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: Re: [IP] more on ICANN's "ex-ex-ex" domains and the slippery  
slope (fwd)


I hear what Joichi is saying and I have a lot of respect for him,
but it seems that after such a long lull in expansion, leading
off with ex-ex-ex is a rather strange place to start.  And,
while a mix of child advocacy and pornography experts on one board
of directors must have required some real strong talking by somebody, I
do have to wonder if that is the most functional board structure one
can find.

My biggest problem with the current ICANN policies on TLDs is that
they have created a very small oligarchy of TLD registries with
very high barriers to entry.  That market structure does not match
the realities of the registration process: this isn't rocket science
and domain names shouldn't be a $1b+/year industry.

Regards,

Carl





> ===== 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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