Re: [ga] Mr. Qaddafi Salutes Verisign

[Sandy Harris <sandy@storm.ca>]

William X Walsh wrote:

> > Should we block, for example, www.rawa.net, the Revolutionary Assoc
> > of Women of Afghanistan?
> 
> I think you mean rawa.org  :)  I get a LOT of misdirected email
> intended for them at my raw.org domain.

Right. My mistake.
 
> > Should we block Cuba, since the US embargo them? Canada has never
> > joined that embargo, nor has most of Europe.
> 
> Realistically, ICANN is required to follow US Law, like it or not,
> unless it is granted a specific legal exemption, which would require
> passage of new laws.

Perhaps, but a quick search turns up many .cu web sites. To my mind,
trying to remove .cu from the root servers would be contrary to
everything the US gov't has said about an international ICANN, open 
processes, ...

In law, the US gov't almost certainly has the power to force ICANN and,
even moreso, US firms like Verisign, to comply with their various
embargoes. In reality, they do not appear to be doing so.
 
> > Then there's the whole question of the international nature of the net,
> > and ICANN's mission to run the thing in the interests of its users
> > worldwide. ICANN is a California corporation, hence obviously subject
> > to US law. What happens when the mission and US law conflict?
> 
> The law MUST win, unless and until it is granted exemptions by new
> laws from those existing laws.

Yes, but that depends at least on whether the US gov't chooses to
rigorously enforce those laws and, should they do so, on whether
ICANN chooses to resist arguing their obligation, largely derived
from US gov't documents, to be open and international.

My guess would be that the US gov't has no intention of trying to
shut down Iraqi or Lybian or ... access to the net, and for good
reason. That would be neither a good move in terms of the gov't's
image, nor an effective attack on those regimes.

This could be tested fairly easily. If you believe those embargos
are justified and Verisign is illegally violating them, then turn
them in. If I'm right, the gov't will do nothing.

Of course, al-queda.org might be a whole other story.
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