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Thanks Phil for forwarding. <br>
<br>
Some quick comments:<br>
<br>
In the IG space we deal with governments such as these on a regular
basis - in so far as they are part of the GAC, or sitting in
discussions at the UN, in the WSIS processes, etc., they are a part
of the governance space. Enhanced accountability and governance
mechanisms at ICANN and independent IANA operator oversight should
provide the necessary resilience and the resistance to capture by
such regimes, or indeed any stakeholder group or subset, going
forward. This is why our work is so important.<br>
The assertion that civil society is in bed with these regimes and
that somehow the influence of these regimes is facilitated by civil
society participation is just wrong. If that is the intent of the
editorial it is shamefully dismissive of the great work that civil
society is doing to promote an open Internet and free expression
around the globe.<br>
And, somehow the editorial team have forgotten about the NTIA
criteria for the transition - the transition won't (indeed should
not) go anywhere if there is credible belief that the proposal will
result in a system that will be subject to influence and capture by
any of the stakeholders. <br>
<br>
Matthew<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 1/6/2015 1:24 AM, Phil Corwin wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:8E84A14FB84B8141B0E4713BAFF5B84E0F3A400D@Exchange.sierracorporation.com"
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman","serif"">FYI--This is the lead
editorial in the January 5, 2014 issue of the Washington
Post…<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/protect-the-internet-keep-the-contract-with-icann/2015/01/04/b1ff61c2-7bff-11e4-9a27-6fdbc612bff8_story.html"><span
style="color:blue">http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/protect-the-internet-keep-the-contract-with-icann/2015/01/04/b1ff61c2-7bff-11e4-9a27-6fdbc612bff8_story.html</span></a><br>
<br>
The<br>
Post's View<br>
Protect the Internet: Keep the contract with ICANN<br>
<br>
By Editorial Board January 4 at 7:12 PM<br>
LAST MONTH, China hosted the first World Internet Conference
and gave everyone reason to worry. At the last minute,
Chinese officials tried to ram through a declaration calling
for governments to exert greater control over the fastest
and freest communications tool the world has ever seen,
using the chilling<br>
concept of “Internet sovereignty” to justify it. Russia,
meanwhile, has crushed its most prominent Internet
entrepreneur — Pavel Durov , the founder of a major
Facebook-like application — after he refused to cooperate
with the Kremlin.<br>
It’s bad enough that these authoritarian governments repress
online expression within their borders. They should<br>
not be let anywhere near the governance of the Internet’s
global infrastructure. Yet the Commerce Department is
proceeding with a plan to relinquish supervision of one
crucial element of world Internet governance to an
international body, which may not be<br>
sufficiently resistant to influence from the world’s many
would-be censors. If the situation doesn’t improve, Commerce
should halt the march toward a formal turnover.<br>
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN) is responsible for a lot of everyday maintenance<br>
— essentially acting as the Internet’s phone book. Until
recently, its major policy dilemmas have revolved around
whether to create new top-level domain names such as .tv or
.xxx. But now it is at the center of a potentially perilous
transition. It continues<br>
to operate under the Commerce Department’s benign oversight
, but Commerce’s contract with ICANN is up next year .
Relying on a global community of Internet engineers,
businesses and other nongovernmental entities, ICANN wants
to end one of the last vestiges of formal U.S. control over
the global<br>
Internet, completing the transfer of responsibility for
maintaining basic Internet functionality to a
multi-stakeholder organization that operates by consensus
and independently of any government.<br>
The problem is that no one yet has a convincing explanation
for how the multi-stakeholder model will be immune to<br>
pernicious influences from governments. Independent voices
from global nongovernmental interests are supposed to
suffuse the ICANN system and provide a self-correcting
ethos. But civil society in many countries is deeply
connected to the state, and those states<br>
will try to manipulate or control as much as they can.
Details of the technical transition are being hammered out,
but the accountability measures and controls that will be
vital to establishing and preserving a legitimate global
Internet governance are taking<br>
longer.<br>
Commerce still holds a trump card: It can renew its contract
with ICANN. The Obama administration has said it will<br>
insist on adequate protections for freedom of speech before
it lets go, and it must stick to that commitment. That could
be hard: The Snowden revelations have put pressure on the
Obama administration. Yet the free and open Internet has
thrived under existing<br>
arrangements. The United States should not allow other
governments to use the leaks as a pretext to gain control of
Internet governance.<br>
<br>
<br>
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:navy">Philip
S. Corwin, Founding Principal</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:navy">Virtualaw
LLC</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:navy">1155
F Street, NW</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:navy">Suite
1050</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:navy">Washington,
DC 20004</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
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style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman","serif";color:navy"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:navy"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:navy">Twitter:
@VlawDC</span></b><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman","serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:navy">"Luck
is the residue of design" -- Branch Rickey</span></i></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
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</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Matthew Shears
Director - Global Internet Policy and Human Rights
Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT)
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:mshears@cdt.org">mshears@cdt.org</a>
+ 44 771 247 2987</pre>
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