Translation, as I see it: new gtld policy will be diktated (k intentional) by the United States government. What is new? --c.a. Konstantinos Komaitis wrote: > http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090916_9990.php > > Republican lawmakers want answers from ICANN > BY ANDREW NOYES, CONGRESSDAILY 09/16/2009 > Two of the House Judiciary Committee's top Republicans wrote to the new head > of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers on Tuesday to > express concerns about the proposed introduction of many new top-level > domains -- such as .biz, .info, and .us -- and the expiration later this > month of a memo formally joining the Commerce Department and the > California-based entity that administers the world's Web addresses. > > In their letter to ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom, Judiciary ranking member Lamar > Smith and Courts and Competition Subcommittee ranking member Howard Coble, > R-N.C., said they are worried that a vast expansion of domains will carry > "serious negative consequences" for U.S. businesses and consumers. The U.S. > Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers and others have > complained that adding hundreds of new domains could exacerbate > cyber-squatting, fraud, and overall confusion in the Internet marketplace. > > Smith and Coble said the absence of price caps in the new registry deals > could mean that legitimate businesses could be discriminated against and > asked to pay a premium for each domain they register or renew. ICANN, which > has said it plans to begin accepting applications for new domains in early > 2010, could bring in an initial $90 million from the plan, according to some > estimates. The letter argued the only economic justification put forth so > far is an ICANN-commissioned report that has been criticized for failing to > include empirical data to support of its claim that the project will benefit > consumers. > > Given the late consideration of intellectual property concerns and ICANN's > "less than stellar track record," Smith and Coble said they have "serious > misgivings" about the scheduled expiration later this month of a joint > project agreement between the U.S. government and ICANN. ICANN leaders have > claimed that, after 10 years in business, the nonprofit is ready for its > independence but a number of lawmakers -- Democrats and Republicans alike -- > aren't so sure. House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and > Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., last month called > for the creation of a permanent relationship. > > Smith and Coble ask Beckstrom to provide detailed answers by Sept. 22 to > several questions about the domain name expansion and the termination of the > joint project agreement. > > Proponents of the domain name expansion take a different view. Richard > Tindal, senior vice president of registry at eNom, argues that new domains > will be safer space for trademarks. As part of the proposed process, > safeguards are being built into the registry selection process and the > registry/registrar contracts. Additionally, ICANN is likely to adopt > significant portions of the recommendations for trademark protections > offered by a committee of trademark experts, he said. > > Tindal claims the amount of traffic and cyber-squatting won't increase > significantly with new domains and could actually decrease. "There is only > so much Internet traffic and so many cyber-squatter dollars available at any > given point in time. Doubling the number of [domains] will not double the > amount of cyber-squatting," he said. Furthermore, the recent introduction of > country code top-level domains and vanity names (e.g. Facebook) demonstrates > that once new domains are introduced, "there will be widespread consumer > adoption," he predicted. > > > On 16/09/2009 22:00, "Robin Gross" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > >> Dear All, >> >> The NCUC Annual Election is in progress and nominations have closed, and the >> final ballot has been sent to the good folks at .nic for entering into their >> online election system. >> >> Below is the final slate of candidates on the ballot. >> >> The voting period will begin 19 Sept. 2009 at 00:00 UTC. >> The voting period will end 26 Sept. 2009 at 00:00 UTC. >> >> You should receive an email at the beginning of the voting period with >> instructions on how to cast your votes. >> >> Candidates in the election are encouraged to submit a statement or bio to this >> list (or to the website election page <http://ncdnhc.org/page/elections-1> ). >> >> I apologize for the delay regarding the dates of the online vote, but all is >> in motion now, so look for your ballot in your email on Saturday (this >> weekend). >> >> Thanks, >> Robin >> >> NCUC Annual Election for 2009 >> >> Voting Period: 19-26 September 2009 >> >> SELECT 1 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REGION IN EACH REGION: >> >> NCUC Executive Committee (1-year term): >> >> Africa >> Rafik Dammak >> Alex Gakuru >> David Kissoondoyal >> >> Asia >> David Cake >> >> Europe >> Konstantinos Komaitis >> Cedric Laurant >> >> North America >> Brenden Kuerbis >> >> South America >> Gabriel Pineiro >> Carlos Affonso de Souza >> >> SELECT 1 GNSO COUNCILOR FROM ANY REGION >> >> GNSO Council (2-year term): >> Rafik Dammak (Africa) >> Konstantinos Komaitis (Europe) >> Wendy Seltzer (North America) >> Rudi Vansnick (Europe) >> >> >> SELECT 1 CONSTITUENCY CHAIR: >> >> NCUC Chair (1-year term): >> Robin Gross >> >> >> >> APPROVAL OF CHARTER REVISIONS: >> >> Do you approve of the NCUC Charter revisions proposed by the Executive >> Committee? Viewable at: >> http://ipjustice.org/ICANN/NCSG/NCUC/NCUC-Charter-Revisions-Sep-09.pdf >> >> >> 2009 NCUC Election Time-Table: >> 4 Sept: Nominations opened >> 12 Sept: Nominations closed >> 19 Sept: Voting Begins 00:00 UTC >> 26 Sept: Voting Ends 00:00 UTC >> 31 Oct: Term Begins >> >> >> >> >> >> IP JUSTICE >> Robin Gross, Executive Director >> 1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94117 USA >> p: +1-415-553-6261 f: +1-415-462-6451 >> w: http://www.ipjustice.org e: [log in to unmask] >> >> >> >> >> >