[LAC-Discuss] [LAC-ALS] FW: -- ICANN New gTLD Policy Up for Debate in Lisbon: Censorship andNational Sovereignty at Issue -
Nick Ashton-Hart
nick.ashton-hart at icann.org
Wed Mar 28 13:54:40 EDT 2007
Please note that a Spanish, Portuguese, and French version of the GTLD
Report's main sections is available at:
https://st.icann.org/alac/index.cgi?lisbon_documents
You'll find all the other key policy documents there too!
On 28/03/07, Scott S Robinson <ssr at laneta.apc.org> wrote:
>
> Colegas del RALO LAC,
>
> Apoyo a la posición de Carlton en el tema de evitar toda clase de censura
> de contenidos.
>
> Scott Robinson
> Vinculart, AC
> México
>
>
>
>
>
>
> At 08:03 a.m. 28/03/2007, Carlton A Samuels wrote:
>
> Dear Friends:
> I have forwarded the thread provided by our new ALAC Chair, Jacqueline
> Morris for your advice and hopefully, discussion towards a consensus from
> LACRALO on the several issues. Very early in its tenure, the Secretariat
> took the decision that it would seek to report consensus rather than drive
> it. However in the matter here below, conscience trumps duty.
>
> I wish to associate myself in the strongest possible terms with the
> position that advises ICANN to remain neutral on content issues, if only
> because of my own personal loathing for anyone other than me deciding what I
> may think, read or consume in the pursuit of knowledge. Furthermore, I
> abhor all and every attempt at censorship in whatever form. And finally, I
> consider the attempt to impose extra-national or supranational oversight in
> this venture as cynical and is rightly condemned as a form of
> neo-imperialism.
>
> Carlton
>
> [Spanish Version]
>
> Amigos Todos:
> He adelantado el hilo proporcionado por nuestra nueva Chair de ALAC,
> Jacqueline Morris para su consejo y optimistamente, la discusión hacia un
> consenso de LACRALO en los varios asuntos. Muy temprano en su ocupación, la
> Secretaría tomó la decisión que lo procuraría informar el consenso antes que
> lo maneja. Sin embargo en el asunto aquí abajo, la conciencia triunfa el
> deber.
>
> Deseo asociarme en los términos posibles más fuertes con la posición que
> aconseja ICANN para quedarse neutral en asuntos contentos, si solamente a
> causa de mi propio aborrecer personal para cualquiera otro que yo decidiendo
> lo que puedo pensar, poder leer o puedo consumir en el persecución del
> conocimiento. Además, aborrezco todo y cada tentativa en la censura en
> cualquier forma. Y finalmente, considero la tentativa para imponer el
> descuido extra-nacional o supranacional en esta aventura como cínico y es
> condenado correctamente como una forma del neo-imperialismo.
>
> Carlton
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> The link to the latest draft of the GNSO Committee's report is here:
> http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/pdp-dec05-draft-fr.htm
>
> The link to the NCUC proposal is here:
> http://www.ipjustice.org/ICANN/drafts/022207.html
>
> ======
>
> -- ICANN New gTLD Policy Up for Debate in Lisbon: Censorship and National
> Sovereignty at Issue --
>
> 22 March 2007 - As ICANN's Board Meeting
> http://www.icann.org/meetings/lisbon/ in Lisbon
> is about to kick-off, a number of important policy issues are on the
> agenda.
>
> One of the most hotly contested issues at ICANN is the current draft
> proposal regarding
> the introduction of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) and its impact on
> free
> expression and national sovereignty.
>
> While the latest (16 March 2007) draft proposal would no longer allow a
> single country to block a new gTLD string application for non-technical
> reasons, it
> would allow any group of nations to block an application for a new
> top-level domain for
> non-technical reasons.
>
> Recommendation 6 in the draft proposal still reads "Strings must not be
> contrary to
> generally accepted legal norms relating to morality and public order."
>
> But now, instead of any 1 country being able to block a string on a subject
> it didn't
> like, any group of countries objecting to a string would be able to kill
> the application.
>
> Why would the ICANN Board want to give this kind of control and censorious
> powers to the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC)? ICANN should stick to
> its technical mission and remain content-neutral in the allocation of new
> top-level domains and leave the politics out of the formulations.
>
> And the proposed gTLD policy still operates under the fiction that there
> are such
> accepted public policy and morality legal norms.
>
> The proposed gTLD policy is still a recipe for censorship and an attack on
> national
> sovereignty. Why should the restrictions in any one country be imposed upon
> the citizens
> of another country? No one has even attempted to provide a justification
> for that.
>
> ICANN's Non-Commercial User's Constituency (NCUC) proposed
> http://www.ipjustice.org/ICANN/drafts/022207.html to
> reform the new gTLD policy so that national laws will govern what speech
> may be permitted in a country, not ICANN policy.
> But that proposal was summarily swept aside.
>
> Former ICANN Board Member Michael Palage and current GNSO Council Member
> Avri Doria have published a paper
> http://ipjustice.org/ICANN/keep_core_neutral.pdf
> recommending that ICANN remain content-neutral and resist the path of
> censorship in the
> introduction of new gTLDs.
>
> Concerned Netizens are encouraged to contact the ICANN Board and their GAC
> Members to urge reform of the proposed policy. NCUC prepared a sample letter
> to ICANN Board Members
> http://ipjustice.org/wp/2007/03/22/letter_board_gtld and a
> sample letter to GAC Members
> http://ipjustice.org/wp/2007/03/22/letter_gac_gtlds to
> assist Netizens in making their voices heard.
>
> The GNSO Committee's proposal still erroneously equates trademark rights
> with rights to
> domain names. The draft proposal attempts to justify censorship in the new
> gTLD space on
> the flaky rationale that trademark law does not permit the registration of
> scandalous
> words. The Committee fails to recognize that a trademark is an exclusive
> right to
> prevent others from using a word in commerce, and the policy they are
> setting is whether
> anyone can use use a word at all in the new gTLD space. Big difference.
>
> Both the GNSO Committee on New gTLDs and the GAC will make policy
> recommendations on the issue to the ICANN Board. The ICANN Board will then
> vote on the policy recommendations.
> The ICANN Board would be smart to remain content-neutral and not allow
> ICANN's technical mission to become muddled down in politics by giving GAC
> any power to prevent a new string for non-technical reasons. Nor should
> ICANN give itself any right to prevent a string for non-technical reasons.
> Besides the fact that its censorship, it will also
> create legal liability for ICANN.
>
> But the question remains open: Can ICANN stand-up to the GAC and resist the
> urge to
> impose a policy of censorship in the new gTLD space?
>
> See related: NCUC Press Release of 2/27/7 "Power Grab: ICANN to Become
> Internet's Word
> Police"
> http://ipjustice.org/wp/2007/02/27/icann-power-grab/
>
> The ICANN GAC representatives are listed here:
> http://gac.icann.org/web/contact/reps/index.shtml
>
> The ICANN Board of Directors are listed here:
> http://www.icann.org/general/board.html
> --
> Jacqueline A. Morris
> www.jacquelinemorris.com
> _______________________________________________
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--
--
Regards,
Nick Ashton-Hart
PO Box 32160
London N4 2XY
United Kingdom
UK Tel: +44 (20) 8800-1011
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