Thanks to Milton and Marc for the links. I decided to sit down and read the US Government proposal in greater detail than I have, and as a result produced a draft statement for NCSG that I hope you will all sign on to and that we can circulate widely to facilitate the ICANN Board sticking to only narrow changes/revisions to the draft Applicant Guidebook by San Francisco. I'm thinking, in particular, of Board members, GAC friendlies, and influential publications/blogs/journalists).
 
Please note that I've only had time (and background) to write about the proposals relating to the MAPO and Community Objections Procedure, and briefly on the trademark stuff. If anybody wants to add comments on the other proposals (e.g. VI, economic analysis), please feel free do so but - hopefully - soon.
 
In the same vein, and assuming this makes it as an NCSG comment, I think it'd be good to circulate it sooner rather than later. As such - and mind you, I'm not possessive about my language! - please limit your comments to substantive ones as far as possible. I know my phrasing is likely to be viewed as too tame by some members, but I won't have time to do a re-write (nor would I necessarily support a much more impassioned document :)
 
Finally, I wanted to note that I don't mention one issue of significance to NCSG - support for developing country applicants (which is what the JAS working group headed by Rafik is working on in the face of massive difficulties and opposition within the ICANN community). It may be that this issue is major enough for some NCSG members to support a delayed launch of new gTLDs, but I felt it would not be opportune or strategic to include it in the document (I do, however, sneak in a footnote linking to Milton's blog post about the topic :)
 
Please let the list know if you have substantive comments, position corrections or are working on a draft or re-draft (so we can keep track of who's doing what). I also apologize if there are members other than Milton and Avri who have blogged about the issue who I didn't know about and so didn't use to help draft this document.
 
Thanks and cheers
Mary
 
Mary W S Wong
Professor of Law
Chair, Graduate IP Programs
UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE SCHOOL OF LAWTwo White StreetConcord, NH 03301USAEmail: [log in to unmask]: 1-603-513-5143Webpage: http://www.law.unh.edu/marywong/index.phpSelected writings available on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) at: http://ssrn.com/author=437584>>> 


From: Milton L Mueller <[log in to unmask]>
To:<[log in to unmask]>
Date: 2/7/2011 11:33 AM
Subject: Re: More on USG and ICANN
Ars Technica has also taken up the issue
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/if-governments-can-block-top-level-domains-is-gay-doomed.ars 


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marc Rotenberg [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, February 07, 2011 7:47 AM
> To: Milton L Mueller
> Cc: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: More on USG and ICANN
> 
> http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20030809-281.html
> 
> Marc.



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