Proposed NCUC/NCSG comment on the ICM Registry case

[Konstantinos Komaitis]

I also think that it is short, to the point - great. No need for more, this is perhaps the most clear cut case of what ICANN has to do.

KK

Dr. Konstantinos Komaitis,
Law Lecturer,
University of Strathclyde,
The Law School,
The Lord Hope Building,
141 St. James Road,
Glasgow, G4 0LT
UK
tel: +44 (0)141 548 4306
http://www.routledgemedia.com/books/The-Current-State-of-Domain-Name-Regulation-isbn9780415477765
Selected publications: http://hq.ssrn.com/submissions/MyPapers.cfm?partid=501038
Website: http://domainnamelaw.ning.com/



-----Original Message-----
From: Non-Commercial User Constituency [mailto:NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Carlos A. Afonso
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 2:14 AM
To: NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: Proposed NCUC/NCSG comment on the ICM Registry case

Looks great! And, just in case we have forgotten... Keep the Root
Neutral! :)

--c.a.

On 05/02/2010 11:36 PM, Milton L Mueller wrote:
> Dear all:
> Robin asked me to do a first draft so here it is.
> Comments must be filed by May 10
> --------------------------------------------------------
> The Noncommercial Users Constituency and Noncommercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG) represents nearly 200 nonprofit organizations, public interest advocacy groups, educators, researchers, philanthropic organizations and individuals.
>
> NCUC and NCSG believe that ICANN has a very simple choice to make in its handling of the .xxx domain.  The board can accept the fact that ICANN made serious mistakes in its handling of the matter and then make a good faith effort to rectify those mistakes - or it can refuse to do so. That is all there is to this decision. The complicated "process options" offered by the general counsel are distractions. Either ICANN accepts the determination of the independent review panel and creates the .xxx domain, or it doesn't. Those are the only "options" of relevance to the community.
>
> Noncommercial users believe that the board should accept the decision of its independent review panel and prepare to add .xxx to the root. Anything less will raise serious doubts about ICANN's accountability mechanisms and will undermine the legitimacy of the corporation and its processes. The contract offered to ICM Registry should be based on the same template as that offered to .mobi, .jobs and other contemporaneous applicants for sponsored TLDs.
>
> Noncommercial stakeholders are deeply interested in the outcome of the .xxx application for two reasons.
>
> 1)      As supporters of improved accountability for ICANN, we would be deeply concerned by a Board decision that ignored ICANN's own Independent Review process. The IRP is one of ICANN's few external accountability mechanisms. The .xxx case was the first test of that process. A group of distinguished and neutral panelists reviewed the record of this case in extensive detail, and decided against ICANN. It would be shocking if ICANN chose to ignore or circumvent the requirements of the IRP decision. An appeals process that has effect only when the board feels like complying is no accountability mechanism at all. We also feel that failure to comply with the IRP will encourage dispute settlement through litigation, which is not in the interests of ICANN or its community.
>
> 2)      As advocates of civil liberties and freedom of expression, we believe it is unacceptable for a TLD string to be rejected simply because some people or some governments object to it. ICANN must not become a tool of those who want to discourage or censor certain kinds of legal content. We believe that ICANN should not be turning its coordination of top level domain names into mechanisms of content regulation or censorship.
> To conclude, we ask the Board to look past the noise that will surely be generated by any public discussion that touches on pornography. This public comment period should not be a poll assessing the popularity of the .xxx domain. The board must focus exclusively on compliance with its own appeals process and strive to maintain ICANN's integrity.
>
>
> Milton Mueller
> Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies
> XS4All Professor, Delft University of Technology
> ------------------------------
> Internet Governance Project:
> http://internetgovernance.org
>
>