[LAC-Discuss] [LAC-ALS] FW: -- ICANN New gTLD Policy Up for Debate in Lisbon: Censorship andNational Sovereignty at Issue -

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
>  _______________________________________________
>  LAC-ALS mailing list
>  LAC-ALS at atlarge-lists.icann.org
> http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/lac-als_atlarge-lists.icann.org
>
>  No virus found in this incoming message.
>  Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>  Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.17/730 - Release Date: 22/03/2007
> 07:44 a.m.
>
> _______________________________________________
> LAC-ALS mailing list
> LAC-ALS at atlarge-lists.icann.org
> http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/lac-als_atlarge-lists.icann.org
>
>

-- 
-- 
Regards,

Nick Ashton-Hart
PO Box 32160
London N4 2XY
United Kingdom
UK Tel: +44 (20) 8800-1011
USA Tel: +1 (202) 657-5460
Fax: +44 (20) 7681-3135
mobile: +44 (7774) 932798
Win IM: ashtonhart at hotmail.com / AIM/iSight: nashtonhart at mac.com /
Skype: nashtonhart
Online Bio:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtonhart