RE: [ga] nTLD going gTLD

["William X. Walsh" <william@dso.net>]

On 05-Jan-2000 John B. Reynolds wrote:
> 
> To date, ccTLD issues have not been very high on the priority list of anyone
> in ICANN other than the Governmental Advisory Committee, where it has been
> the primary topic of discussion.  The concern within the GAC has not been
> with open registration policies, but rather with the degree of control
> governments should have WRT delegation of the ccTLDs associated with their
> countries and dependent territories.  To date the only action ICANN proper
> has taken in response is IANA's issuance of a "Delegation Practices
> Document" that does little more than restate preexisting policy.  (ICANN's
> failure to act on the GAC's top priority should be sufficient to discredit
> those conspiracy theorists who spent most of last year arguing that the GAC
> covertly controlled ICANN, some of whom have now moved on to contending that
> IBM is the real eminence grise.)

I don't agree with your take here, completely.

I think ICANN realizes that opening the ccTLD can of worms right now would be a
surefire way to kick themselves in the proverbial ass.  It would open
themselves up to certain legal problems, as well as possibly cost them any
support or participation whatsoever by a very important group in this process,
the ccTLD community.  The ccTLDs were not delegated under a contract or MoU
like NSI was subject to, and other than RFC1591, there were no rules or
restrictions placed on them.  To now, retroactively place them subject to new
restrictions and rules without their consent will certainly place ICANN in a
legal mess it knows would put the very premise of its existance right into the
hands of Judges, who they can't count on to decide the way the movers and
shakers behind ICANN want them to.

The ccTLD issue is a legal hotbed waiting to happen for ICANN.  ICANN's taking
a hands off approach right now is really the only choice open to them.

--
William X. Walsh <william@dso.net>
DSo Networks  http://dso.net/
Fax: 877-860-5412 or +1-559-851-9192