ICANN under scrutiny?

[Avri Doria]

Hi,

I don't think it has to do with protecting the organization as a
benevolent parent might.

Yes, it is a matter of protectionism, but it is commercial
protectionism.

a.



On 18 Sep 2009, at 07:36, Alex Gakuru wrote:

> You know, some parents insist and refuse to accept that their child is
> all grown up. Sure the young adults make some mistakes here and there,
> but they learn from it and guess what? One day they end up as parents
> themselves. It is better to let them free sooner rather than later.
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 8:20 AM, Carlos A. Afonso <ca at cafonso.ca>
> wrote:
>> Translation, as I see it: new gtld policy will be diktated (k
>> intentional)
>> by the United States government. What is new?
>>
>> --c.a.
>>
>> Konstantinos Komaitis wrote:
>>>
>>> http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090916_9990.php
>>>
>>> Republican lawmakers want answers from ICANN
>>> BY ANDREW NOYES, CONGRESSDAILY 09/16/2009
>>> Two of the House Judiciary Committee's top Republicans wrote to
>>> the new
>>> head
>>> of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers on
>>> Tuesday to
>>> express concerns about the proposed introduction of many new top-
>>> level
>>> domains -- such as .biz, .info, and .us -- and the expiration
>>> later this
>>> month of a memo formally joining the Commerce Department and the
>>> California-based entity that administers the world's Web addresses.
>>>
>>> In their letter to ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom, Judiciary ranking
>>> member Lamar
>>> Smith and Courts and Competition Subcommittee ranking member
>>> Howard Coble,
>>> R-N.C., said they are worried that a vast expansion of domains
>>> will carry
>>> "serious negative consequences" for U.S. businesses and consumers.
>>> The
>>> U.S.
>>> Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers and
>>> others have
>>> complained that adding hundreds of new domains could exacerbate
>>> cyber-squatting, fraud, and overall confusion in the Internet
>>> marketplace.
>>>
>>> Smith and Coble said the absence of price caps in the new registry
>>> deals
>>> could mean that legitimate businesses could be discriminated
>>> against and
>>> asked to pay a premium for each domain they register or renew.
>>> ICANN,
>>> which
>>> has said it plans to begin accepting applications for new domains
>>> in early
>>> 2010, could bring in an initial $90 million from the plan,
>>> according to
>>> some
>>> estimates. The letter argued the only economic justification put
>>> forth so
>>> far is an ICANN-commissioned report that has been criticized for
>>> failing
>>> to
>>> include empirical data to support of its claim that the project will
>>> benefit
>>> consumers.
>>>
>>> Given the late consideration of intellectual property concerns and
>>> ICANN's
>>> "less than stellar track record," Smith and Coble said they have
>>> "serious
>>> misgivings" about the scheduled expiration later this month of a
>>> joint
>>> project agreement between the U.S. government and ICANN. ICANN
>>> leaders
>>> have
>>> claimed that, after 10 years in business, the nonprofit is ready
>>> for its
>>> independence but a number of lawmakers -- Democrats and
>>> Republicans alike
>>> --
>>> aren't so sure. House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and
>>> Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., last month
>>> called
>>> for the creation of a permanent relationship.
>>>
>>> Smith and Coble ask Beckstrom to provide detailed answers by Sept.
>>> 22 to
>>> several questions about the domain name expansion and the
>>> termination of
>>> the
>>> joint project agreement.
>>>
>>> Proponents of the domain name expansion take a different view.
>>> Richard
>>> Tindal, senior vice president of registry at eNom, argues that new
>>> domains
>>> will be safer space for trademarks. As part of the proposed process,
>>> safeguards are being built into the registry selection process and
>>> the
>>> registry/registrar contracts. Additionally, ICANN is likely to adopt
>>> significant portions of the recommendations for trademark
>>> protections
>>> offered by a committee of trademark experts, he said.
>>>
>>> Tindal claims the amount of traffic and cyber-squatting won't
>>> increase
>>> significantly with new domains and could actually decrease. "There
>>> is only
>>> so much Internet traffic and so many cyber-squatter dollars
>>> available at
>>> any
>>> given point in time. Doubling the number of [domains] will not
>>> double the
>>> amount of cyber-squatting," he said. Furthermore, the recent
>>> introduction
>>> of
>>> country code top-level domains and vanity names (e.g. Facebook)
>>> demonstrates
>>> that once new domains are introduced, "there will be widespread
>>> consumer
>>> adoption," he predicted.
>>>
>>>
>>> On 16/09/2009 22:00, "Robin Gross" <robin at IPJUSTICE.ORG> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear All,
>>>>
>>>> The NCUC Annual Election is in progress and nominations have
>>>> closed, and
>>>> the
>>>> final ballot has been sent to the good folks at .nic for entering
>>>> into
>>>> their
>>>> online election system.
>>>>
>>>> Below is the final slate of candidates on the ballot.
>>>>
>>>> The voting period will begin 19 Sept. 2009 at 00:00 UTC.
>>>> The voting period will end 26 Sept. 2009 at 00:00 UTC.
>>>>
>>>> You should receive an email at the beginning of the voting period
>>>> with
>>>> instructions on how to cast your votes.
>>>>
>>>> Candidates in the election are encouraged to submit a statement
>>>> or bio to
>>>> this
>>>> list (or to the website election page
>>>> <http://ncdnhc.org/page/elections-1> ).
>>>>
>>>> I apologize for the delay regarding the dates of the online vote,
>>>> but all
>>>> is
>>>> in motion now, so look for your ballot in your email on Saturday
>>>> (this
>>>> weekend).
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Robin
>>>>
>>>> NCUC Annual Election for 2009
>>>>
>>>> Voting Period: 19-26 September 2009
>>>>
>>>> SELECT 1 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REGION IN EACH REGION:
>>>>
>>>> NCUC Executive Committee (1-year term):
>>>>
>>>> Africa
>>>> Rafik Dammak
>>>> Alex Gakuru
>>>> David Kissoondoyal
>>>>
>>>> Asia
>>>> David Cake
>>>>
>>>> Europe
>>>> Konstantinos Komaitis
>>>> Cedric Laurant
>>>>
>>>> North America
>>>> Brenden Kuerbis
>>>> South America
>>>> Gabriel Pineiro
>>>> Carlos Affonso de Souza
>>>>
>>>> SELECT 1 GNSO COUNCILOR FROM ANY REGION
>>>>
>>>> GNSO Council (2-year term):
>>>> Rafik Dammak (Africa)
>>>> Konstantinos Komaitis (Europe)
>>>> Wendy Seltzer (North America)
>>>> Rudi Vansnick (Europe)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> SELECT 1 CONSTITUENCY CHAIR:
>>>>
>>>> NCUC Chair (1-year term):
>>>> Robin Gross
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> APPROVAL OF CHARTER REVISIONS:
>>>>
>>>> Do you approve of the NCUC Charter revisions proposed by the
>>>> Executive
>>>> Committee? Viewable at:
>>>> http://ipjustice.org/ICANN/NCSG/NCUC/NCUC-Charter-Revisions-Sep-09.pdf
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 2009 NCUC Election Time-Table:
>>>> 4 Sept: Nominations opened
>>>> 12 Sept: Nominations closed
>>>> 19 Sept: Voting Begins 00:00 UTC
>>>> 26 Sept: Voting Ends  00:00 UTC
>>>> 31 Oct: Term Begins
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> IP JUSTICE
>>>> Robin Gross, Executive Director
>>>> 1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA  94117  USA
>>>> p: +1-415-553-6261    f: +1-415-462-6451
>>>> w: http://www.ipjustice.org     e: robin at ipjustice.org
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>