CANN They? International Internet Governance and the ICANN Case by Ivory Mills
Abstract: The Internet is a component of global telecommunications infrastructure that has proven especially significant, far-reaching, and often challenging for traditional market economics and geopolitics. In particular, the nature and functionality of the Internet has inhibited its integration into existing institutions and the global hegemony of communication policy. Consequently, new efforts and models have arisen to address this mis-alignment, creating a new landscape of governance that is decentralized and reactionary.
This paper conducts a critical examination of international internet governance, focusing specifically on the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in efforts to understand its role and implications for the internet, geopolitics, and international telecommunications regulation. Unlike prior studies, this research focuses specifically on the organizational and inter-organizational structure of ICANN to understand the networked model of governance in this context, identify noteworthy stakeholders, parse strategies, objectives, and outcome discrepancies that may exist.
This article is available for download in full from:
ssrn.com/abstract=2584294
ICANN CEO Responds to ICA Concerns Regarding Davos “Cybersquatting” Remarks by Philip Corwin, Internet Commerce Association
CEO Chehade has just responded with his own letter back to President Johnston. In that response he states, “I appreciate the role the Internet Commerce Association and its members have played in helping shape ICANN policy over the years and in providing a voice and platform for propagation of best practices among the domainer community… We are in complete agreement that there is a very important legal distinction between registering generically-termed domain names and cybersquatting. I am heartened to hear of the ICA’s efforts to discourage the latter.”
ICA appreciates that CEO Chehade took the time to respond to our letter and constructively clarify his earlier remarks.
The full text of his letter is below or see Letter from Fadi Chehadé to Jeremiah Johnston – https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/chehade-to-johnston-24mar15-en.pdf:
24 March 2015
Jeremiah Johnston
President
Internet Commerce Association
1155 F Street, NW
Suite 1050
Washington, DC 20004
Dear Mr. Johnston:
Thank you for your letter dated 4 February 2015. I appreciate the role the Internet Commerce Association and its members have played in helping shape ICANN policy over the years and in providing a voice and platform for propagation of best practices among the domainer community. It is in this spirit that I welcome the opportunity to address your comments about the short video interview I gave in late January during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.
I regret that the ICA interpreted some of my comments in the interview as expressing a “disdainful view” of domain investing. As you might have gathered from the reporter’s questions, some people have asked whether the new gTLD program might have created an opportunity for “land grabb[ing]” by industry insiders. It was not my impression that the question being asked referred to established practices in the secondary market; rather, I believe the reporter was inquiring about some of the very practices by registries you cited in your letter. My response –that alternatives are available in different gTLDs –was intended to try to allay the concern that the program was creating artificial scarcity of domains, not to criticize participants in the marketplace. Registry operators and registrars have the freedom to be innovative both in service offering and pricing. With the introduction of new gTLDs, the marketplace will effectively decide whether the practice of, e.g., holding back or selling “premium” registrations will be successful or not.
With regard to my suggestion that the introduction of new gTLDs could help reduce cybersquatting in the long term, I continue to believe that this has potential as an outcome of the New gTLD Program. Users could become accustomed to entering, e.g., www.website.[brand] into their browsers, reducing the opportunity for those who deliberately register domain names that infringe on others’ trademarks to profit. We are in complete agreement that there is a very important legal distinction between registering generically-termed domain names and cybersquatting. I am heartened to hear of the ICA’s efforts to discourage the latter.
Thank you, as always, for sharing the concerns of the ICA with me.
Sincerely,
Fadi Chehadé
President and CEO
This article by Philip Corwin from the Internet Commerce Association was sourced with permission from:
www.internetcommerce.org/chehade-clarifies-davos-remarks/
posted by David Goldstein
For an open, secure and stable Internet: DENIC takes a stand on the future of Internet Governance
[news release] The central registry of the German country code Top Level Domain .de, DENIC, has prepared in collaboration with the German government and other German interest groups a position paper with recommendations for action for the future stewardship of the so-called IANA functions.
The U.S. administration announced in March last year its intention to relinquish its exclusive control of core Internet functions exercised by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), an organizational unit of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), if certain parameters were complied with. ICANN is one of the global self-regulating organizations of the Internet and is chiefly responsible for co-ordinating and awarding key Internet resources.
The U.S. administration’s announcement concerns the supervision of the so-called “IANA functions”, which ICANN exercises on the basis of a contract with the U.S. administration. The IANA functions are basically technical and clerical in nature, like the management of IP addresses, protocol parameter management and administration of the root zone.
ICANN was tasked with elaborating a proposal for the future design of stewardship of the IANA functions. ICANN takes its decisions in so-called multistakeholder processes involving governments, the private sector, the technical community, academia and civil society.
The current discussion in two working groups that were established for this particular purpose is focusing on two different aspects: Firstly, the stewardship transition of the technical and clerical IANA functions (IANA Stewardship Transition), and secondly ICANN’s accountability in general (ICANN Accountability), with the aim to ensure that ICANN will continue to perform its tasks in the interest of the global public.
The contract between the U.S. administration and ICANN for the IANA functions expires on 30 September 2015. By that date a solution for a future stewardship model must have been defined. The German Internet Community makes a contribution towards this solution.
Joint position of the German stakeholders
“The redesign of the stewardship of the IANA functions is an opportunity to play an active part in shaping the processes governing the future management of key Internet resources,” emphasizes DENIC-CEO Dr. Jörg Schweiger.
The central guideline here is a clear affirmation of the multistakeholder model with inclusive participation of all the relevant groups (stakeholders) in their specific roles, for developing, deciding and implementing processes and regulations for the global Internet.
The top priority with regard to the IANA transition is “to create a stable, secure and easy solution. By no means must any Internet services be interrupted due to the transition,” says Jörg Schweiger.
The German government – represented by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy – and DENIC support and underpin that rules on country-code Top-Level Domains – in particular including .de – continue to be made solely within the respective country in accordance with relevant national rules and legislation. The established and well integrated TLD policies that have proven successful for years should be maintained unchanged. Rules and regulations by ICANN must be in line with national law or allow for special provisions in exceptional cases.
This DENIC news release was sourced from:
www.denic.de/en/denic-in-dialogue/press-releases/press/4005.html
by David Goldstein
Amazon Files Complaint for Three Amazon-Related Domain Names
Amazon,has recently filed a complaint against the owner of three Amazon-related domain names,seeking control of it.
The three domain names are : AmazonProm.com, AmazonPromDresses.com and AmazonDresses.org.
Amazon filed the complaint with the National Arbitration Forum on March 25,2015.
According to whois records, AmazonProm.com was first registered in July, 2014,while AmazonDresses.org and AmazonPromDresses.com were first registered in APril,2012 .The registrant is Steve Souders from Peking.
The National Arbitration Forum will examine over the next days if the domain names are confusingly similar to Amazon’s trademark,if the current owner has rights over it and if the domains are being used in bad faith . The disputed domain names will be passed over to Amazon if it falls under all three of these stipulations.
At the time of writing this article, the case is still pending compliance checks with the National Arbitration Forum.
Media Company Offers Premium Domain Names For Sale, Including 0TV1.com and ChicagoGreatest.com
Media Company announced recently that it is offering some premium domain names for sale, including 2HEN.com, 11PR.com, 0TV1.com and ChicagosGreatest.com .
You can read the press release after the jump :
” For the first time since acquiring several premium URLs, media group Absolute Vision Media Inc. is offing high valued domain names for sale. These domains are being released as the Absolute group no longer is in need of these domains.
The highly sought after four-character domains have been held for over five years, and no further business plans include these domains in Absolute’s ongoing direction. The four character URLs include 2HEN.com, 11PR.com, and 0TV1.com. These premium domains are in demand not only for their low character count, but also because of the uniqueness of their characters.
Absolute is also taking offers for ChicagosGreatest.com, ChicagoWeddingProductions.com and VacantStoreFront.com.
Internet branding has become more important as internet presence becomes a driver of sales and leads, and a company’s domain name is often the first interaction with a brand, online or offline.
If interested in acquiring one of these unique web domain names,
contact Mark(at)AbsoluteVisionProductions.com
Or call 630.422.7311
2HEN.com
11PR.com
0TV1.com.
ChicagosGreatest.com
ChicagoWeddingProductions.com
VacantStoreFront.com.”
