Thank you Multer for this work. I do not have any other comment. Best regards Thierry H. Amoussougbo Regional Adviser Development Information Services Division United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Tel: 251 1 511167 ext 33053 Fax: 251 1 510512 E-mail : [log in to unmask] Milton Mueller <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent by: cc: Non-Commercial User Subject: Re: [NCUC-DISCUSS] Approval process for gtld Constituency service changes <NCUC-DISCUSS@LISTSE RV.SYR.EDU> 08/01/2004 09:19 PM Please respond to Milton Mueller Feel free to suggest modifications --MM ===== Proposed NCUC statement on "Procedure for use by ICANN in considering requests for consent and related contractual amendments to allow changes in the architecture or operation of a gTLD registry." NCUC observes that by initiating this procedure, ICANN is assuming that its contracts alone are not sufficient to provide a predictable and stable basis for the industry. It is assuming that it needs an ongoing form of regulatory oversight to supplement its contracts. ICANN should face the fact that it is expanding further into areas of industry regulation, although no one wants to admit that. In formulating its response, NCUC begins by asking: How are noncommercial domain name users specifically affected by this change? The answer, NCUC believes, is that there is no commercial/noncommercial angle to this issue. It is more a question of: a) how users/consumers relate to suppliers and what kind of regulatory procedures are needed to protect consumers given the high switching costs associated with changing registry suppliers after a domain name is well-established. b) what kind of technical regulation or specifications are needed to protect third parties using domain names on the Internet from harmful changes made in registry operation, while preserving as much as possible the freedom of suppliers to respond to the market and innovate. NCUC notes that whether consumers or users are commercial or noncommercial has little bearing on these issues. We also note that a) and b) are distinct policy issues - a) involves protection of the parties buying service from a gTLD registry, who may have options, while b) involves protection of third party users of a domain name, who probably do not have any options if they want to connect to the party using the affected registry. We also note that a) involves economic forms of regulation which also involved competition policy concerns, while b) is more a matter of technical coordination. NCUC strongly recommends that the PDP distinguish clearly between a) and b) in its consideration of the new process. Is the object of the process economic regulation or technical coordination? The document we are asked to comment on proposes no policies, so our comments can only suggest questions or problems for the PDP process to consider. 1. One question the PDP should consider is whether all issues related to a) above should be handled by national regulatory authorities instead of ICANN. We support ICANN's need for technical coordination related to matters under b). We are less confident of ICANN's ability and right to engage in a). We are also not convinced of its ability to engage in competition policy-related forms of regulation. 2. The PDP document refers to a "quick look" process followed by a more involved process if a change fails the "quick look." A question the PDP needs to face squarely is: What is a subject to a "quick look" and what is not? What is a "new registry service"? How is that defined? Who will make that determination initially? What happens when the registry and ICANN disagree on that issue? 3. The NCUC recognizes the danger that a registry can make damaging changes, such as in the Sitefinder case. We support clear, well-defined specifications for registry operation that make DNS a neutral platform for Internet functions. We also recognize a threat that innovative changes, such as multilingual domain names, will be stifled by a central organization such as ICANN which may have incentives to prevent useful changes in order to maintain its control over the industry. 4. The PDP should consider whether there should be a distinction between policies applied to sponsored and unsponsored TLDs. NCUC believes the answer is no: if the justification for regulation is economic; i.e, that users are locked in to a supplier and cannot switch service providers without incurring damaging costs, then the same fundamental economic problem applies regardless of whether the registry is sponsored or not. If the justification for the process is technical, the answer is the same: there is no relevant technical distinction between sponsored and un- sponsored registries. 5. The PDP should consider whether there should be a distinction between the treatment of dominant and non-dominant TLDs? In this case NCUC believes there is a stronger case for a distinction. A major dominant registry may have the power to move the entire industry and technology, whereas smaller ones would not. However, the lock-in problem of consumers applies regardless of whether the registry is dominant or not. Thus, the policy must identify carefully what problem it is trying to solve.