Re: [ga] H.R. 3028 and ICANN UDRP

["A.M. Rutkowski" <amr@chaos.com>]

At 08:36 AM 10/14/99 , you wrote:
>Oh, Gee. ICANN may not be an international database. I thought it was an
>international organization though, and if these agreements arent'
>"Treaties", then ICANN wouldn't be legitimately commandeering ccTLDs would
>they?

The term "international organization" is a very vague and
broad one that encompasses any kind of entity that holds
itself out as such, and has members or a governing body
that draws upon individuals or other organizations from
multiple countries.  The Brussels-based Union of International
Organizations at http://www.uia.org currently lists the
profiles of 40,000 international organizations registered
with the UIA.

A treaty is formal legal instrument among sovereign States.
In the United States, treaties must meet certain requirements
under the US Constitution.

>What are these agreements? is there not any international law surrounding
>the legitimacy of ICANN? And if there is, wouldn't that be a treaty?
>Please explain, because you bring up an interesting point that ICANN has
>no governing authority anywhere except in the United States and it's
>territories.

They are a mixture of private contracts among parties and
agreements with a US Executive Branch agency.  ICANN is
simply a California not-for-profit corporation that
effects cooperation among Internet users in accordance
with its Articles of Incorporation.