[NA-Discuss] Fwd: The Internet Society on Egypt’s Internet shutdown

[Bob Bruen]

I think that there is a notable difference in ICANN's authority or 
influence on gTLDs vs. ccTLDs.

This discussion seems to be split between ICANN's technical arena and the 
political arena. As much as I do not like anyone being shutoff from the 
net or crushed by dictators, the two arenas are separate. I urge a little 
caution in writing statements that are influened by current politics or 
social events.

ICANN could be encouraged to to make sure that all countries are treated 
in a particular (good) way, but the ccTLDs are pretty much are subject to 
the whims of governments, as evidenced by the sale of some ccTLDs 
to private individuals.

It is not helpful, in my opinion, to make statements that tell someone to 
do something they are unable to do. Unwilling is another matter.

               --bob

On Mon, 31 Jan 2011, Eric Brunner-Williams wrote:

> Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 09:36:54 -0500
> From: Eric Brunner-Williams <ebw at abenaki.wabanaki.net>
> To: na-discuss at atlarge-lists.icann.org
> Subject: Re: [NA-Discuss] [windows-1252] Fwd: The Internet Society on Egypt’s
>     Internet shutdown
> 
> Continuing ...
>
>>  - Recognize ICANN's limited authority on policy matters
>
> Much as I personally like Manal Ismail it is difficult to imagine her
> being an effective spokesperson for the GAC, at Brussels, San
> Francisco or Amman.
>
> As Andrew McLaughlin pointed out in his open letter to Dr. Tarek
> Kamel, he too faces a limited range of choices as an accepted figure
> of merit or authority.
>
> It may be prudent for ICANN to forgo the assistance of the
> representatives of the Egyptian government at present, and for some
> time to come. Of course, it may also be prudent for Egypt to find that
> its representatives are otherwise engaged and need not be the focus of
> public comment critical of administrative induced network failure.
>
> Next, is the intentional failure of the .eg registry consistent with
> the purposes and positions of record of the ccNSO? I have a hard time
> imagining Chris Despain making the case that the principle of
> subsidiarity means that ccTLDs can be turned on and off at the whim of
> national governments.
>
> Applications for new gTLDs that propose to site, primarily or
> secondarily, in Egypt, have already been harmed by the need to find
> alternate primary or secondary siting, at some additional cost or
> complexity. When the interests of the registrants, rather than the
> interests of the registries, is considered, it may be prudent to
> reject all new gTLD applications which propose to site within the
> territorial jurisdiction of Egypt, or use any four of the five
> principle network operators subject to administrative induced failure
> on January 22nd.
>
> In general, I find the "ICANN is powerless" claim to be non persuasive.
>
> Eric
>
>
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