[Kictanet] Fw: [governance] Emergency resolution on .xxx recall - and thedestruction of ICANN's integrity

[alice at apc.org]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Milton Mueller" <Mueller at syr.edu>
To: <NCUC-DISCUSS at listserv.syr.edu>
Cc: <governance at lists.cpsr.org>; <iza at anr.org>; <vb at bertola.eu.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 5:32 PM
Subject: [governance] Emergency resolution on .xxx recall - and 
thedestruction of ICANN's integrity


> Many of us have warned for years that the US's unilateral political
> power over ICANN was a problem. Too many people didn't listen. Now that
> power is being displayed and used in a way that even the most abject
> apologists for the system cannot deny.
>
> Over the weekend ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee transmitted a
> letter asking ICANN to reverse its decision to approve the .xxx TLD. A
> letter from the US Commerce Dept supporting that request has also been
> filed. http://www.icann.org/correspondence/gallagher-to-cerf-15aug05.pdf
>
>
> I believe it is essential that NCUC, ALAC and WSIS civil society join
> together in a resolution or letter to ICANN, its GAC and the US Commerce
> department expressing concern over and opposition to the GAC's attempt
> to reverse the .xxx delegation.
>
> What is at stake here is the very model of the Internet as a private
> sector and civil society-driven institution, and as an INTERNATIONAL
> institution. This is not about .xxx per se. (although it should be noted
> that all .xxx proposes to do is openly and accurately identify porn on
> the Internet, which is in every legitimate user's interest.  The
> creation of a .xxx TLD does not CREATE pornography, which we all know is
> already out there.)
>
> The decision by the US to exercise in an unambiguous way its unilateral
> power over ICANN has been made in a surprising context. But I have
> checked the facts and there is no doubt about it. The US Commerce
> Department's Deputy Secretary David A. Sampson, confirmed by the Senate
> July 22, is responsible for the sudden decision of the US to support the
> GAC's attack on ICANN's delegation process. Sampson was influenced by
> the Family Research Council, a culturally conservative religious group
> in the US, which made it an issue. Sampson is a graduate of David
> Lipscomb University , the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and
> earned his doctorate at Abilene Christian University.
> http://www.commerce.gov/bios/sampson_bio.htm
>
> ICANN participants must stand up for the integrity of the institution
> as a global, legitimate policy making system. One government cannot be
> given an arbitrary and unlimited power to reverse the result of a
> decision making process that has gone on for five years and consumed
> millions of dollars in resources, just because a domestic political
> constituency doesn't like the result.
>
> If this recall is allowed to go forward unchallenged, governments will
> have asserted and gained a form of arbitrary power over the Internet at
> its very core. ICANN's often flawed attempt to be a bottom-up
> organization will be completely defeated, forever. This is a very
> important issue. It is essential for ALAC, NCUC and other civil society
> actors to unite on this.
>
> I will be drafting a proposed short resolution. I hope to transmit it
> to these lists soon.
>
>
> Dr. Milton Mueller
> Syracuse University School of Information Studies
> http://www.digital-convergence.org
> http://www.internetgovernance.org
>
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