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

Wed Mar 28 16:16:26 EDT 2007

ENGLISH: Wow, Carlton! At first, I was confused by the strong wording of your message, but after reading Jacqueline's post I must emphatically concur in that this has to be right up there among the worst policy proposals in ICANN history! I would like to suggest that you, as the LACRALO's Secretariat, draft and then distribute a declaration in which we strongly condemn the proposal and call for its repeal.

ESPAÑOL: ¡Vaya, Carlton! Inicialmente me sentí confundido por el fuerte lenguaje de tu mensaje, pero después de leer el de Jacqueline, debo coincidir enfáticamente en que ésta debe ser una de las peores propuestas de política de la historia de ICANN. Me gustaría sugerir que, como Secretario de la LACRALO, prepares y distribuyas un borrador de declaración en la que rechacemos enérgicamente la propuesta y pidamos su desestimatoria.

Msr. Christian Hess Araya
Oficina: Tel. (506) 295-4721 * Fax (506) 295-3712 * Web: www.poder-judicial.go.cr/salaconstitucional/
Personal: Apdo. postal 239-1002 * Skype: chess-cr * Web: www.hess-cr.com <http://www.hess-cr.com/> 
San José, Costa Rica

  _____  

De: lac-als-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org [mailto:lac-als-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org] En nombre de Carlton A Samuels
Enviado el: miércoles 28 de marzo del 2007 08:03
Para: lac-als at atlarge-lists.icann.org; 'LAC Discuss'
Asunto: [LAC-ALS] FW: -- ICANN New gTLD Policy Up for Debate in Lisbon:Censorship andNational Sovereignty at Issue -

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 <http://ipjustice.org/wp/2007/03/22/icann_gtld_policy_problems/> 

======

-- 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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