[CCWG-ACCT] Attempt to summarize discussion regarding Mission and Contract

Mueller, Milton L milton at gatech.edu
Wed Nov 11 16:58:49 UTC 2015


My responses to Becky’s questions:

1. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: "To the extent
that registry operators voluntarily assume obligations with respect to
registry operations as part of the application process, ICANN should have
the authority to enforce those commitments.”
DISAGREE. Not if enforcing those commitments takes ICANN out of its own mission.
2. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: "ICANN shall not
regulate services that use the Internet's unique identifiers, or the
content that such services carry or provide.” - Wherever you land, please
explain what you mean by “regulate” and “services."
             AGREE.
By “regulate” I mean impose legally binding commitments and conditions on the service not related to the domain registration itself, but moving beyond the registration to include the content, activities or prices of the services that happening to be using the domain. Services means online offerings, either commercial or noncommercial, through which one party provides something that another party wants.
In response to Steve Metalitz’s comment here:
One point that those in this discussion who are relatively new to ICANN may not fully appreciate is the extent to which all the terms of contracts between ICANN and gTLD registries and accredited registrars are subjected to public comment and robust debate before they are executed.
I would say that the existence of public comment on proposed policies is good, but there is nothing (except the mission statement and IRP) that prevents ICANN from ignoring them. In effect, Steve is saying that ICANN should have no limitations on its mission because the public can comment on such deviations. This just doesn’t work.
There will be pressure on ICANN to stray from its mission and the limits imposed on it, just as any national government ends up with laws that are unconstitutional. The fact that one group or coalition of groups succeeds in getting something imposed on us via a contract does not necessarily mean it should stand. We have to have a clear and firm mission limitation.
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