Re: [wg-c] Are cc:TLDs included in our Charter?

[John Charles Broomfield <jbroom@manta.outremer.com>]

> ccTLDS are obviously a very touchy political issue,
> both outside ICANN and in it.  Is creation of new ccTLDs
> an issue that should be referred to Working Group C?
> What criteria are being used?

The method of assignment up to now has been to assign on a FCFS basis to any
party who presents an admin contact closely linked to the region in
question. Only codes that can be delegated are those in ISO-3166 (see
RFC-1591 & ICP1). (".uk" instead of ".gb" is a special case which was
requested and approved as it is more descriptive.).
For inclusion in ISO-3166, go see ISO, who defer to a body within UN.
IANA/ICANN does not take political decisions about what goes in or not
ISO-3166. Once it's in, it gets delegated to FCFS

> Does ICANN have the authority
> to require new ccTLDs to accept conditions to which other ccTLDs
> are not subject (e.g., the UDRP)?

From the point of view that ICANN is supposed to have a great deal of power
over what goes in or out of the root-servers, technically it could threaten
and oblige all it wanted, however I really don't see ICANN telling China how
to manage ".cn"...

> Finally, is it the responsibility of the DNSO to raise these issues
> and define its own authority, or do we assume that ICANN's unilateral
> action is a conscious expression of policy?

Any separate region feeling strong enough about it should maybe organize and
setup whatever body they think appropriate to deal with how their ccTLD
(yes, THEIR) is managed. I think it would be out of line for people/entities
outside that region to be forcing them to do things one way or another. This
doesn't mean that a set of BCP's would be unwelcome however...
I understand that many regions exist in a state which is so represive to
make the self-organizing impossible (look at how much WE'RE messing up
without political problems or governments pushing us around), but I don't
think that a platform about how domain names should be managed should be
turned into a political platform geared to throwing down oppresive
governments (it is a noble cause, but it's the wrong place).

Just my own personal feelings...

Yours, John Broomfield.