[At-Large] Comments on GAC Beijing Communique

[Carlton Samuels]

Hi CW:
To add to Olivier's response, if you read the details of the ALAC Statement
you'd see how much it tried to be 'even handed'; we intended a sleek
racehorse but came out with a camel.  That we had a consensus view is
itself remarkable since some of us took the position from early that the
ALAC should not respond and sit on its hands here.  But the consensus was
for a statement and so we have.

Me personally, I do believe the GAC overreached in several areas.  Some of
us have always believed that a) the GAC intervention and ICANN's positive
response actually raise the a legal question of equal protection of the
laws, the case of treatment of old gTLDS vs. new gTLDs  b) the standard
that is being proposed as practically administrative law is too uncertain
to be consistently enforced c) the choice of strings that are held to
higher scrutiny is likely arbitrary given the sliding scale rationale on
which the decision is based.  The PICs are a case in point.

Sure, ICANN has given itself some elbow room by the near unanimous consent
to the Registry Accreditation Agreement 2013.  I however have a strong
suspicions that before we are done, some aggrieved party will file suit in
US District Court for one or other cause.  You should also read the US GAC
representative's statement surrounding the GAC Safeguards. IMO, likely the
best example of a diplomatic note liberally interpreted to say 'wheel and
come again' as I've seen for awhile.  Make no mistake, it was a shot across
the bow, which brings to the fore further evidence of the unsettled
positions in the GAC partnership.

Another example is the matter of so-called closed generic strings.  That is
a can of worms and will likely be the test of the 'public interest' claim
as ever seen. For to my mind, saying they are not in the public interest
when the business models are yet unknown is contrary to reason and good
judgment.  Especially when the entire DNS system is built on the
proposition that an arbitrary string of characters is indeed property;
voicing once more the complaint of the French King when advised that France
was disinherited by Treaty from the spoils of the New World happened on by
Cristobal Colon; "Am I not a Christina and a price?". Think of it, ICANN
says a select set of [declared] strings at the first level are owned free
and clear by someone, legal or natural person.  The entire DNS ecosystem
also affirms any string at the second level, hitherto known or unknown, is
also owned by that same person, legal or natural. This then puts into
context the 'non-exhaustive' list of strings - meaning such as they are,
hitherto known and unknown - the GAC is prepared to give early warning and
inveigh against. I tell you now I don't know how all this will turn out
except to note I'm intrigued by this very interesting conundrum.

Plain and simple, I am troubled by any governmental action that says its
intent is to protect from harm, absent demonstrable harm.  In my view, such
a priori actions with the force of law are odious to natural justice and
does violence to reason.

-Carlton


==============================
Carlton A Samuels
Mobile: 876-818-1799
*Strategy, Planning, Governance, Assessment & Turnaround*
=============================


On Fri, Jul 12, 2013 at 4:22 PM, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <ocl at gih.com>wrote:

> Dear Christopher,
>
> the ALAC did not respond to the comments made specifically by the
> commenter in this message.
> However, the ALAC did issue a Statement on the GAC Advice. You can find
> it at:
> https://community.icann.org/x/NQp-Ag
>
> You can follow all ALAC policy development on:
> https://community.icann.org/x/bwFO
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Olivier
>
>
> On 12/07/2013 20:36, Christopher Wilkinson wrote:
> >
> http://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-gac-safeguard-advice-23apr13/msg00010.html
> >
> > Good evening:
> >
> > Has At Large responded to this comment?
> > (I do not know how to access the <forum.icann.org> Lists. Please
> advise.)
> >
> > CW
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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> >
>
> --
> Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond, PhD
> http://www.gih.com/ocl.html
>
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