6 Jul, 2008: ICAAN – Preventing Hatred v. Censorship of TLD Applications (Digital Journal)
With all the excitement over expansion of IP addresses to be expanded from 4-string to 6-string format, little has been reported on the current and proposed regulations to restrict new domain registration. Watchdogs are deeply concerned over censorship. ....

1 Jul, 2008: ICANN Go-Ahead on GTLDs with “String Criteria” of “Morality and Public Order”
"There has been wide coverage of ICANN’s decision this week to adopt a new process for creating new global Top Level Domains (gTLDs).... Civil libertarians supporting Susan Crawford’s line argue that if governments are able to pressure ICANN into prohibiting .jihad (which has perfectly non-violent meanings in Islam as well as the terrorist connotations it has recently acquired in the ...

26 Jun, 2008: ICANN Board Approves Censorship Policy for Domain Names Based on Morality: 2 Board Members Speak Against It
Today in Paris the ICANN Board passed the GNSO's controversial recommendations to censor top level domains based on notions of "morality and public order", and broadly defined "community" wishes. However, 2 ICANN board members, law professors Wendy Seltzer (on behalf of the At-Large Internet Users) and Susan Crawford, made very powerful and compelling statements to protect free expression on ...

15 May, 2008: US Congress Cites Free Expression as Reason ICANN Must Remain Controlled by US Govt.
US Congressmen are up to their old tricks of pretending to care about free expression publicly, while undermining it's practice with their policy decisions -- especially when it comes to free speech on the Internet. Congressman Edward Markey, the Chairman of the Congressional Sub-committee on Telecommunications and the Internet sent a letter urging the US Government to refuse ...

20 Feb, 2008: Domain Names are Bigger than Trademarks: ICANN’s New Consumer Protection Role
The terminology “confusingly similar” lends itself to the expansion of trademark rights to domain names by commercial uses and governments to the disadvantage of non-commercial users. ICANN should refrain from taking on consumer protection type roles (such as preventing “confusion” in people) and only regulate issues related to the technical coordination of the Domain Name System.

5 Dec, 2007: IGP Blog on ICANN Domain Name Policy: “Land Grab? ccTLDs and multilingual names”
"The introduction of internationalized domain names (IDNs) offers the world one of the best opportunities it will ever have to introduce more diversity and competition into the domain name registry market. That market is currently dominated by VeriSign, which operates the .com and .net domains (as well as a couple of TLDs it bought, .tv and cc) and hence controls ...

13 Nov, 2007: Robin Gross’ Remarks at IGF 2007 on Internet Bill of Rights
Today I’d like to address a few issues that are specifically relevant to the positive development of the Internet and a healthy information society. 1. Freedom of Expression Rights. 2. Access to Knowledge Rights. 3. Communication Rights. 4. Privacy Rights and Data Protection. 5. Anonymity. 6. Excessive and ...

12 Nov, 2007: Internet Domain Name Censorship Vote Delayed (Toward Freedom)
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which makes policy governing the Internet's Domain Name System, recently held its 30th International Public Meeting in Los Angeles. ICANN has stumbled into serious controversy as it threatens to establish policies for systematic censorship of generic top-level domains ("gTLDs" such as '.com' or '.org'), and it left these issues unresolved as ...

2 Nov, 2007: ICANN forms group to hasten non-English domain names (AP)
The decision by ICANN represents another step toward the approval of internationalized domain names, or IDNs, as early as next year. The working group will focus on domains for specific countries, such as the Chinese-character equivalent of China's ".cn" suffix. ICANN started technical tests on such suffixes last month, but work on policy questions is still preliminary. ...

30 Oct, 2007: IP Community Critical Of Proposals On ICANN Agenda (IP-Watch)
"A draft by ICANN’s Generic Name Supporting Organisation (GNSO) on ICANN’s necessary evaluation of new TLD application requests also proposes checks on moral and public order - a task for which ICANN’s not fit, according to the Keep the Core Neutral Coalition (KTCN). KTCN wants ICANN to “stay within its technical mandate and refrain from embedding particular national, regional, ...

29 Oct, 2007: ICANN New TLD Policy - The Anti-Innovation Act of 2007 (Cavebear)
"I'm sitting in ICANN's new TLD policy session - the restraint of trade is enough to gag an a Rockefeller. ICANN continues to espouse an internet that exists only in its own image. An internet in which innovation and enterprise are forced to conform to ICANN standards of goodness. In other words ICANN is attempting to impose ...

28 Oct, 2007: ICANN Board Discusses Policy to Censor New Domain Names: Public Encouraged to Attend LA Meeting and Voice Concerns
ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, holds its 30th International Public Meeting in Los Angeles from 29 October through 2 November. ICANN is the private corporation set up by the US Commerce Department to manage the assignment of Internet domain names and numbers in 1997. An important item on the meeting’s agenda is a proposed ...

24 Oct, 2007: Consumer Reports: WebWatch’s Statement on New General Top Level Domains
"WebWatch believes in consumer choice and freedom. With proper implementation and consumer education we believe the addition of new domain names will benefit consumers and create positive development for the Internet. However, we cannot support the current GNSO Report on New TLDs, and strongly recommend the ICANN board send the report back to the GNSO for reconsideration and redrafting. ...

4 Sep, 2007: Public Comments Require Changes in ICANN new gTLD Policy (IGP)
"The ICANN comment period on its new gTLD policy is over. The comments reflect overwhelming opposition to the Council's attempt to impose a standard of "morality and public order" on new TLD strings. The vast majority of comments -- about 60 of the 75 or so comments -- criticized the policy of censoring TLD strings and asked ICANN to stick ...

30 Aug, 2007: IP Justice Comments on GNSO New GTLD Committee Recommendations: Proposal Would Create a Private Tyranny of Illegal Censorship and Illegitimate Authority at ICANN
"IP Justice supports the introduction of new generic top-level Internet domain names as quickly and as broadly as possible. However, we are deeply concerned about recommendations put forth by the GNSO New GTLD Committee (and ICANN) for evaluating applications will stifle free expression on the Internet. The recommendations would create a policy of censorship on the Internet where ...