Re: [ga] Fw: ICANN's Karl Auerbach responds to Joe Sims over .kids domain

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>]

Bruce and all assembly members,

Bruce James wrote:

>     Very interesting email from Karl Auerbach:
>
> /Bruce
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Declan McCullagh" <declan@well.com>
> To: <politech@politechbot.com>
> Cc: <karl@cavebear.com>; <jsims@JonesDay.com>
> Sent: Friday, July 06, 2001 17:18
> Subject: FC: ICANN's Karl Auerbach responds to Joe Sims over .kids domain
>
> Previous messages:
>
> "ICANN replies to Politech post about House bill and .kids"
> http://www.politechbot.com/p-02227.html

  I had to laugh out loud literally when I read the comments, if that is
how one would characterize them, that Joe Sims made in his response
to Delcan McCullagh.  The are as follows, including headers:
"Subject: Re: FC: U.S. House bill would force ICANN to approve .kids domain
To: declan@well.com
From: "Joe Sims" <jsims@JonesDay.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2001 09:55:25 -0400

Declan, I'm surprised that a Washington expert like you would fall into the
(usually non-US) trap of thinking that two members of Congress equate to
the US Government.  I have no idea what the sponsors of this legislation
actually have in mind, or whether they think it could possibly be effective
if passed, but whatever their personal views, assuming that they represent
a majority of the Congress or (an even greater leap of logic) the views of
the Bush Administration seems quite a leap.  If and when this legislation
is ever seriously considered, and people actually have to state official
views on it, will be time enough to wonder about whether and how it could
be effective if it received majority support in the House, and there was
companion legislation in the Senate, and a conference committee came up
with a compromise that got majority support in both houses, and the
President signed the legislation.  As this little summary points out, that
is a very long and windy road indeed.  In the meantime, this bill should be
considered what it is -- one of hundreds of bills introduced in every
Congress for any number of reasons which may or may not ever go beyond
where it is right now.  If this is what you view as "government
regulation," I can live with it.  You are welcome to post this if you like.

Joe Sims
Jones Day Reavis & Pogue
51 Louisiana Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
Direct Phone:  1.202.879.3863
Direct Fax:  1.202.626.1747
Mobile Phone:  1.703.629.3963

*********"
============  End of quoted Joe Sims E-Mail comments =====

  It seems obvious that even being right there in Washington D.C.
that Mr. Sims is a bit out of touch.


>
>
> "U.S. House bill would force ICANN to approve .kids domain"
> http://www.politechbot.com/p-02216.html
>
> ---
>
> Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 12:04:59 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Karl Auerbach <karl@cavebear.com>
> To: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
> Subject: Re: FC: ICANN replies to Politech post about House bill and .kids
> In-Reply-To: <5.0.2.1.0.20010706111252.0378a410@mail.well.com>
>
> On Fri, 6 Jul 2001, Declan McCullagh wrote:
>
>  > [Perhaps I have done ICANN a disservice by suggesting that it is
> "becoming
>  > just another regulated federal agency."
>  > .... See below for a note from
>  > Joe Sims on behalf of ICANN. --Declan]
>
> Joe Sims does not speak for ICANN.
>
> As for my own point of view as a member of the Board of Directors of
> ICANN:
>
> Yes, there are thousands, probably tens of thousands, of bills submitted
> every year into the hoppers of legislatures and administrative agencies
> around the world.  And a lot of those do not become law.
>
> But many do.
>
> Any time members of the legislative body of the United States go so far as
> to submit a draft bill that not only affects ICANN, but indeed directly
> names ICANN and mandates ICANN behaviour, then as a Director I have to sit
> up and take notice.
>
> It simply would not be prudent to stick my Director's head in the sand
> and pretend to see nothing.
>
> I do not consider it appropriate management to bluster, as Sims does,
> against a situation and pretend that it has gone away.
>
> Unlike Sims, I am Director of ICANN and I am accountable for ICANN's
> actions.  I am not free to live in a fantasy world in which the United
> States Congress is of no more import than a small cloud in an otherwise
> clear sky.
>
> Personally, I think that the bill has some troublesome aspects - for
> instance, given that the US Government, not ICANN, controls the root zone
> via a contract with Verisign, the bill could simply take the form of a
> mandate to the Dept of Commerce to take the appropriate steps without any
> involvement from ICANN at all.
>
> But I find a lack of wisdom in any top-down imposition of "chartered" or
> limited purpose top level domains, particularly one in which the subject
> matter is as subjective and personal as "appropriate" content for
> children.  (One has to wonder at the amount of the content that would be
> considered appropriate by both the parents of a five year old Pakistani
> Islamic girl and the parents of a fifteen year old Danish boy.)
>
> I am perfectly happy to let private companies try to find their way
> through such a maze.  But it seems rather an inappropriate role for a
> national government, particularly given the extraterritorial impacts.
>
> The bill also falls victim to the commonplace belief that the domain name
> system is the only naming system for the Internet, and that the Internet
> is merely the world wide web.
>
> Content labelling by use of domain name names is a very naive, and
> bludgeoning, way to make use Internet technology as a tool of government.
>
> --karl--
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>

Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup - (Over 118k members strong!)
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng.
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Contact Number:  972-447-1800 x1894 or 214-244-4827
Address: 5 East Kirkwood Blvd. Grapevine Texas 75208



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