ICANN under scrutiny?

Fri Sep 18 10:38:13 CEST 2009

I agree with Avri on this - for me it is not an issue of parental
protection, rather of what I see as 'commercial relativism'.
The letter talks about confusion of the American public and how the new gTLD
program will upset the American marketplace. New gTLDs might confuse me, as
much as they might confuse an American consumer. And for the past ten years,
we are going around in circles - especially regarding trademark protection
on the Internet. No one uses the word law (trademark law) anywhere to see
that there are already limitations and restrictions in place.
We need to go backwards if we want to move forwards.

KK

On 18/09/2009 06:51, "Avri Doria" <avri at LTU.SE> wrote:

> 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
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>

--
Dr. Konstantinos Komaitis,
Lecturer in Law,
GigaNet Membership Chair,
University of Strathclyde,
The Lord Hope Building,
141 St. James Road,
Glasgow, G4 0LT,
UK
tel: +44 (0)141 548 4306
email: k.komaitis at strath.ac.uk