[registrars] .COOP agreement

[CORE Secretariat]

Hi Ross,

I understand it is is easy to let oneself be carried away in a 
"we-versus-them" view of the world. In the one you are proposing here, 
the would be registrars+users on one side, an the registries+TLD 
sponsors on the other.

Just remember other dividing lines are being proposed as well. The 
London School of Economics' proposed a "registration interests" view, 
where registries and registrars are seen as the same crowd. Or, I might 
distinguish between "high-volume interests" (such as Tucows and 
Verisign) and "diversity interests" (my version of "the rest of us").

What about recognizing the ICANN world as being divided between those 
who can afford extensive lobbying, and those who cannot? Consensus 
policies tend to be shaped according to the interests of the former, and 
to ignore the latter. In this respect, the mechanism in the proposed 
.coop contract is simple and elegant. It provides minimal protection to 
registries (and their constituents) who cannot afford to have near 
full-time lobbyists in every ICANN working group. And this protection 
merely consists of an ability to be heard.

But we might just as well just worry about well-designed contracts from 
a public-benefit perspective. The contracts must be able to deal with 
future, yet unknown issues.

It is actually also an advantage for the timeliness of consensus 
policies. *If* there is a path obtain exemption in a deserving special 
case, *then* it is much easier faster to devise a consensus policy for 
the general case.

Regards,

Werner



Ross Rader wrote:
> CORE Secretariat wrote:
> 
>> I conclude that this phrase actually does deserve to be in all 
>> sponsored TLD agreements.
> 
> As a registry operator, I'm not surprised to see CORE take this position.
> 
> For the rest of us who do business as registrars and work with 
> registrants, the existence of these exemptions is a concern.
> 
> ICANN has no right to delegate away the policy responsibilities of the 
> community via its contracts with registry operators and - yet it 
> continues to do so.
> 
> -ross


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