[At-Large] [ALAC] Reference: ICC Ruling on Objections filed by the ALAC

[Rinalia Abdul Rahim]

Evan,

The history is appreciated.

It seems to me that a review of this process (as with past reviews of
"failed" or unsatisfactory initiatives from the point of view of the
At-Large) would fuel arguments/making a case for improving or even
"rebooting" the new gTLD program.

ICANN may not have listened to all of the At-Large advice/input in the
past, but that should not stop the At-Large or the ALAC from presenting its
point of view in the interest of end users.

Best regards,

Rinalia
 On Jan 23, 2014 3:48 PM, "Evan Leibovitch" <evan at telly.org> wrote:

> On 23 January 2014 01:15, Rinalia Abdul Rahim <
> rinalia.abdulrahim at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>> A review of the process would be useful. For example, recommendations
>> could be made on whether the ICC panel should include more than 1 person
>> and whether some kind of briefing on the context of ICANN, its ecosystem
>> and processes should be incorporated as part of the panel preparation.
>>
>
>
> Perhaps a little history is in order.
>
> I would note that ALAC was never happy with having the ICC as adjudicators
> in the first place, or even having an objection process at all. If ICANN
> did not listen to us when the process was first started, what confidence
> exists that it would listen to a review that recommends change when it did
> not listen to our original designs?
>
> I am now reminded about the original purpose of the objection process, and
> in retrospect realize that it has accomplished exactly what it was
> originally intended to do.
>
> The objection procedure is an outgrowth of the GNSO "Rec 6" Working Group<https://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-22sep10-en.htm>,
> which was trying to devise a way for groups to object to "offensive"
> strings (.nazi was the example raised most frequently). The ALAC was quite
> clear at the time in its analysis of the objection process. The communiqué
> from ATLAS #1 in Mexico City -- in which all ALSs participated and agreed
> unanimously, and at which Alejandro was a keynote speaker -- stated that:
>
>  *We emphatically call for the complete abolition of the class of
>> objections based on morality **and public order. We assert that ICANN
>> has no business being in (or delegating) the role of **comparing
>> relative morality and conflicting human rights.*
>
>
> Despite this, ICANN still created an objection process -- but as a
> concession, allowed ALAC the ability to object. (Little did we know at the
> time that this ability would be useless because, while we could object we
> could not be assured standing to object :-P )
>
> The anticipated glut of profane TLD applications never occurred, and the
> expected murmur against the three sex-related applications was quickly
> brushed aside. So most of the original point of the objection process
> quickly became moot. What then occupied the objection process were
>
>    - Objections on trademark grounds
>    - The ability for a community to complain that a TLD that claimed to
>    represent them really didn't
>
> So it was no longer about "what strings were unacceptable" but rather
>  "who should control this string", a very contentious issue within ICANN
> and still a source of friction between ICANN and its GAC. The community
> objection has since been used in religious (.islam), geographical
> (.patagonia) and other grounds. In this context, At-Large participation in
> objection to .health does indeed raise a legitimate question...
>
> *Does At-Large really care which of the existing applicants runs .health? *
>
> The adjudicator said it's not our complaint to make, and in some ways I'm
> not sure I disagree. ALAC never really asked for the right to object in
> this way anyhow. And given that PICs are useless and ultimately
> unenforceable, we can't use them to judge which of the applicants would be
> a "better" custodian of the string.
>
> So, in this situation, what is ALAC's role? Since the string ".health" is
> not obscene, our objections amount to wanting a say in which applicant
> controls the string. Had the World Health Organization -- which had
> applied in the past for .health in the past but withdrew<https://archive.icann.org/en/tlds/health1/WHO-A-Transmittal-Form.htm>-- applied this time as a community gTLD, it would have prevailed over the
> non-community applications and the objections would be moot.
>
> But that didn't happen. In its absence, do we have the right to say that
> "if the WHO can't have it, nobody can"?
>
> If we want to say "the allocation of domain names must serve the public
> interest", that philosophy demands FAR FAR more than lame objection
> processes and even lamer PICs. But it would also demand almost a complete
> reboot of the gTLD process and of ICANN itself. Given where we are, the
> objection process probably did the right thing and got out of the way. It's
> up to the public to either use or shun the .health TLD -- by whoever gets
> it -- based on its accumulated trust and value.
>
> - Evan
>