XXX Comes to a Head posted by Milton Mueller
Posted in: Domain Names at 13/03/2007 11:41
XXX Comes to a Head posted by Milton Mueller
Milton Mueller is critical of ICANN in the .xxx approval process. Milton notes he is "beginning to think that ICANN's approach to TLD approval was cooked up by a demented sergeant from Abu Ghraib." Milton writes about what he sees as a prolonged process where "ICANN tells ICM registry, the company applying for the domain, something is wrong with its application and something more needs to be done to get approval. ICM registry dutifully goes off and does what was asked. And then ICANN thinks of something else that is wrong, something else it has to do." Milton claims that heading into what should be the final approval stage a few ICANN board members are "leaning in a negative direction". The reason for Milton is the campaign organised by a group of pornographers, which has led some board members to wonder if the proposed TLD has community support. But, Milton says, "ICANN already decided, more than a year ago, that ICM Registry had sufficient support from the relevant 'community' to be classified as a sponsored domain. The test for sponsorship was part of the original process. So that issue is over. Or should be."
Milton then asks why is this happening. He claims "The answer is that ICANN's processes are so arbitrary and political that any issue can be opened and reopened at any time, for any reason - regardless of the defined process. The answer is that ICANN's completely discretionary, beauty contest approach to TLD selection casts it adrift on a sea of politics, so that the slightest shift in the winds causes it to change direction. The answer is that ICANN will do anything to avoid making a controversial decision."
So, according to Milton, "the Board members and CEO seem truly directionless, a couple of flotsam and jetsam bobbing about in a political sea. They simply do not understand how deeply they are sapping ICANN's credibility and stature in the world by making (non)decisions in this way. To live up to its role as a global governance institution, ICANN needs to have clear, objective decision making criteria and to stand up for principles. The path of arbitrariness ICANN is on leads to only one end result: litigation."
Milton concludes that "The issue here is very simple. ICM Registry met all the criteria ICANN set out in its request for applications back in 2003. It passed all the tests ICANN said in advance it was going to require applicants to meet. It even passed all the tests the US government and the GAC imposed after the process was supposed to be over. That should be the end of the story."
http://www.circleid.com/posts/xxx_comes_to_a_head/
