[ncdnhc-discuss] Competition and the ORG report

[Milton Mueller]

The Business constituency has proposed the following 
as a supplemental, non-consensus statement 
regarding .org divestiture:

".  Urges the Board to increase competition and 
diversity and encourage new investment in the 
provision of gTLD registry services, by ensuring the
market position of existing dominant providers are not 
entrenched nor enhanced through participation in, 
taking an interest in, or contracting to deliver 
critical services to, the new .org management 
organisation."

This statement avoids directly naming Verisign
and therefore meets some of the objections that 
were expressed on this list. 

I strongly support this statement. There is widespread
concern among some quarters that ICANN acts as a
cartel and will give valued resources such as .org
only to large companies that are already dominant. 
A statement such as this, which was too controversial
to be part of the main report, would make it clear
to the Board that many constituencies favor giving
new people a chance. 

We need to hear from you on this topic in a week.
So far I have heard support from three or four
members and some objections based on naming 
Verisign from two or three members. If there is
no clear direction we will not weigh in on 
the issue. 

--MM