In a bad development, ICANN's lawyers are attempting to brush aside its only real external accountability mechanism, the Independent Review Process (IRP). As you know, ICANN lost its IRP challenge on the .xxx top level domain.

Instead of accepting this decision and conforming to it, ICANN is asking for public comment on whether it should accept the decision (simple answer: YES); it is also suggesting that the applicant would have to go through an entirely new "review process" to get the domain that was unfairly denied it five years ago. The proposed process for the "review" looks like it was designed by a crazy man - there is a clear attempt here to deny justice through perpetual process cycling.



The comment period on this travesty is now open:  http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-26mar10-en.htm

I urge all NCSC members to comment along the following lines:



*         ICANN must respect the decision of the IRP panel.

*         ICANN has no justification for starting a de novo review process when its review panel has already decided that it acted in an unfair and discriminatory manner. To do so is to prolong the injustice.

*         ICANN has no business asking the GAC - or any other Advisory Committee - for political advice, it simply needs to conform to the IRP decision

Please don't allow ICANN to pretend that the public doesn't want it to be accountable. Comment on this proposal!

--MM