Freedom of Expression Chilled By ICANN’s Addition of Speech Restrictions in DNS: ‘Public Interest Commitments’ Amount to Illegitimate Usurpation of Bottom-Up Policy
Freedom of expression on the Internet is at risk from ICANN’s recent decision to prohibit anyone but one specific type of doctor from using the word within the .doctor new gTLD space. Last month, ICANN’s New GTLD Program Committee decided that only “medical practitioners” would be allowed to register a domain [...]
Proposal for the Creation of a “Community Veto” Process on Key Decisions of ICANN’s Board of Directors
Amending ICANN's existing corporate bylaws to create a community veto process and a board recall mechanism could empower the ICANN community to over-see the direction of ICANN's board of directors. These bylaws revisions would greatly aid in the organization's effort to be accountable to the community it serves without requiring a radical re-organization of ICANN's legal structure.
Civil Society Cautions Against ICANN Proposal to Give Governments a Veto Over New Domains Using “Geographic Names”
A group of twenty-four civil society organizations and individuals today submitted a joint statement regarding a proposal from an ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) sub-group on the use of geographic names in top-level domains. The joint civil society statement cautioned against the adoption of the GAC proposal that would give governments veto power on domains that use geographic names. The submission stated that the proposal would threaten to chill freedom of expression and other lawful rights to use words in domain names, stifle innovation, and undermine the multi-stakeholder model for Internet governance. The group also stated that the proposal is based on flawed presumptions of law and 'the public interest' and is entirely unworkable from a practical standpoint.
Aligning ICANN Policy With Privacy Rights of Internet Users – IGF 2014 Workshop Transcript & Video
ALIGNING ICANN POLICY WITH PRIVACY RIGHTS OF INTERNET USERS September 5, 2014 - IGF Workshop from Istanbul, Turkey >> PRANASH PRAKASH: Shall we start? Good morning. Thank you for coming by for this panel on ICANN processes and privacy issues. My name is Pranash Prakash with the Yale Information Society [...]
ICANN Accountability In A Multi-Stakeholder Governance Regime – IGF 2014 Transcript & Video
Ninth Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum - Istanbul, Turkey "Connecting Continents for Enhanced Multi-Stakeholder Governance" September 3, 2014 ICANN Accountability In A Multi-Stakeholder Governance Regime >> ROBIN GROSS: Hello everyone and welcome. My name is Robin Gross with IP Justice. I'm the organizer of this panel on [...]
Tell ICANN Not to Change its Bylaws to Give Governments Dominant Control of ICANN’s Board
Stand Up For Internet Freedom! Send a comment to ICANN to express your concern about the organization's radical proposal to hand control of the board of the directors over to governments. The Internet Needs You to Act Today!
Do Not Empower Non-Democratic Governments’ Control Over the Internet with this Draconian “GAC Veto” on ICANN Board Decisions
This draconian proposal to change ICANN's bylaws would fundamentally transform ICANN away from being a "bottom-up" and "private-sector-led" organization and into a governmental regulatory agency by changing the GAC's role from "advisory" into "primary decision maker" by essentially creating a "governmental veto" on all key organizational decisions. This would mark a truly significant change in the overall power structure at ICANN that would dramatically empower national governments (some democratic, some authoritarian) over the management of critical Internet resources at the expense of those who participate in the bottom-up policy development process...
7 “Frequently Asked Questions” About ICANN’s Enhancing Accountability Plan that Went Unanswered in ICANN’s FAQ
Q1. Why wasn't the community involved in the drafting of the staff plan? Q2. How does ICANN intend to handle the inherent conflict of interest with developing its own accountability plan? Q3. Why didn't ICANN invite proposals from the community? Q4. Why is there no public comment period on staff's plan? Q5. [...]
Aligning ICANN Policy with Privacy Rights of Internet Users – IGF 2014 Workshop Video
IP Justice Presents IGF 2014 Workshop #149: "Aligning ICANN Policy with Privacy Rights of Internet Users" Day 5 at the 9th United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2014 in Istanbul, Turkey 5 September 2014 ~ 11:00 am - 12:30 pm in Istanbul (other time zones) in Venue Workshop Room #6 at Lütfi Kirdar International Convention [...]
Quelle Suprise! ICANN’s Accountability Plan Gives ICANN Board Total Control: ICANN Limits Accountability Improvement Measures to Toothless Self-Policing
1. ICANN’s So-Called “Enhancing Accountability” Process After a long wait, ICANN’s senior management finally released its plan for “Enhancing Accountability” at the private California corporation that makes global Internet domain name policy. Unfortunately, the accountability deficit crisis created by ICANN’s longstanding policy of purely “self-policing” with no meaningful external accountability mechanisms [...]
Accountability in the ICANN Multi-Stakeholder Governance Regime – IGF 2014 Workshop Promo & Video
IP Justice Presents IGF 2014 Workshop #23: "Accountability in the ICANN Multi-Stakeholder Governance Regime" at the 9th United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2014 in Istanbul, Turkey 3 September 2014 ~ 9:00 - 10:30 am in Istanbul (other time zones) in Venue Room #2 at Lütfi Kirdar International Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC) [...]
Enhancing ICANN Accountability – IP Justice Comments
Strengthen Protection for Human Rights, Independent Checks on Board, Greater Transparency, Adherence to Bottom-Up Decision Making