[WSIS CS-Plenary] update on the .xxx decision

[Milton Mueller]

I have second-hand information about the ICANN Board meeting Sept. 15,
where .xxx was at the top of the agenda. 

I have been told that the Board voted, with 11 supporting and 4
abstentions, to ask ICM Registry to make sure that there would be no
ownership transfer of the domain, and to strengthen its methods to
enforce requirements and policies on web sites registering in the
domain. The clear implication seems to be that with these modifications
the domain will be approved, but of course ICANN made no explicit
commitment yet and the overall effect is to delay the final contract
further. 

As far as I know, ICANN received only 2 letters from governments on
this issue, one from Sweden and one from Brazil, both negative regarding
the domain. The Internet Governance Project also transmitted its
petition criticizine political intervention in DNS management to the US
Secretary of Commerce and the ICANN Board. 

The content of the Brazil letter can be seen at the NCUC archives
http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0509&L=ncuc-discuss&T=0&F=&S=&X=3758E071D3FA0246DD&Y=mueller%40syr.edu&P=2005
 Brazil is mainly interested in more power for governments over ICANN
activities. 

The content and signatories of the IGP statement can be seen here:
http://dcc.syr.edu/signaturepost.asp 

It is possible that other govts weighed in as well but kept their
comments private.

The bottom line here is that ICANN seems to have displayed some
backbone, not caving in to political pressures from governments,
including the govt of (or political forces within) the US. I believe the
IGP campaign helped with this, and thanks to those of you in civil
society who signed the online petition.

The religious conservative group Christian Coalition has already
explicitly urged the NTIA to use its veto power over modification of the
DNS zone file to stop .xxx; if ICANN formally approves xxx it will no
doubt provoke calls from that group to exercise the unilateral power,
posing a real dilemma for the USG. 

In a related development, a trade association of the "adult online
entertainment industry" has also started a campaign against .xxx. So we
have the pornographers, the religious crazies and the Brazilian and
Swedish governments working together. I hope they enjoy each other's
company! 



Dr. Milton Mueller
Syracuse University School of Information Studies
http://www.digital-convergence.org
http://www.internetgovernance.org