[Infowarrior] - DOC goes 'off the rails' in ICANN position paper

[Richard Forno]

The US Commerce Dept position paper for the ICANN Board negotiations
by Milton Mueller on Sat 29 Jan 2011 01:11 AM EST  

IGP has obtained a copy of the US Commerce Department's position paper for its February 28 negotiations with the ICANN Board over the new top level domain program. The "USG Submission to the GAC Scorecard" shows that the U.S. Commerce Department's ICANN crew has gone off the rails. It supports direct governmental veto power over domains and demands that ICANN completely rewrite most of the consensus policies developed over 4 years.  

The specific policies recommended by the U.S. will astonish anyone who believes that the U.S. supports Internet freedom and democratic governance. For beginners, the U.S. is demanding that ICANN give any government in the world the authority to veto a top level domain. The U.S. wants to make all top level domains go through an initial "review by governments, via the GAC." In this initial evaluation process, "Any GAC member may raise an objection to a proposed string for any reason.  If it is the consensus position of the GAC not to oppose an objection raised by a GAC member or members, ICANN shall reject the application." (In a footnote, the US defines "consensus position" as "a position voiced by one or more GAC member(s) not objected to by other GAC member(s).") 

This is truly astounding. The ICANN process has spent years trying to ensure that only applications that involve words contrary to general principles of international law will be vetoed. The Commerce Department, in contrast, is openly saying that  governments should be able to veto a top level domain "for any reason." So much for the rule of law.

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http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2011/1/29/4737705.html