Nader/CPT: A framework for ICANN and DNS Management, Initial Proposals

[James Love <love@cptech.org>]

INFO-POLICY-NOTES
List management at http://www.cptech.org/lists.html

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The following are proposals presented by Ralph Nader to "Governing
the Commons: The Future of Global Internet Administration," a
conference organized by Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility, September 24-25, 1999, in Alexandria, Virginia. 


            A framework for ICANN and DNS Management 
                                
                        Initial Proposals
                       (comments welcome)
                                
                          version 1.02 
                                
                       September 25, 1999*

1.   ICANN's authority should be based upon a multilateral
     government charter. That Charter should define and limit
     ICANN's authority. 

2.   The charter should be based upon a limited purpose sui
     generis agreement among countries that express interest in
     working together, and that agree that ICANN's role should be
     limited to tasks essential to maintaining an efficient and
     reliable DNS management, and that ICANN will not be used as
     an instrument to promote policies relating to conduct or
     content on the Internet. (Additional multilateral
     institutions may be desired to address electronic commerce
     issues, but ICANN itself should not become the foundation
     for a vast Internet governance institution. See
     http://www.cptech.org/ecom/cpt-wcpo.html) 

3.   ICANN should not use its power over domain registration
     policy to exclude persons from the use of a domain on issues
     that are not germane to managing the DNS system of mapping
     IP addresses into domain names. The right to have a domain
     on the Internet should be considered the same as the right
     to have a street address, a telephone number or a person's
     name. 

4.   ICANN should identify a membership and elect its board of
     directors from its membership before it makes additional
     policy decisions (in those areas appropriate for action by
     ICANN). 

5.   Membership should be open to anyone who uses the Internet.
     There should be no fee associated with membership or voting
     rights. 

6.   The records of ICANN should be open to the public. The
     public should have rights to documents as, similiar to
     rights provided in the US Freedom of Information Act. 

7.   The meetings of ICANN should be open to the public. 

8.   The public should be given an annual opportunity to review
     and comment on the ICANN budget. 

9.   The Budget of ICANN should be subject to review by the
     countries that provide the ICANN charter. Fees associated
     with domain registration should only be spent on activities
     essential to the management of the DNS system. 

10.  National governments should be permitted to exercise
     discretion over policies relating to the use of country top
     level domains (.fr, .uk, .us, etc). 

11.  For generic top level domains (.com, .org, .net, and new
     gTLDs), the domain space should be declared a public
     resource. The registrar or registries perform services on
     behalf of the users of the domains, and will not own the
     domain space. It should be possible to replace firms engaged
     in registration services and DNS management, without risking
     the stability of the Internet. 

12.  On matters of public interest (in the narrow areas where
     ICANN will operate), such as policies regarding the use of
     trademarks or the privacy of domain registration
     information, ICANN should make recommendations to the sui
     generis multinational body created to manage ICANN, and the
     multinational body should accept, reject or modify the
     recommendations, after giving the public a fully adequate
     opportunity to review and comment on the proposals. 

13.  On the issue of trademarks, the Charter should explicitly
     protect the public's rights to parody, criticism and free
     speech. For example, domain names like GM-sucks.com, which
     would not be confused with GM.com, should be permitted. 



*Corrected

Comments to James Love, love@cptech.org or Ralph Nader,
ralph@essential.org.

-- 
James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology
I can be reached at love@cptech.org, by telephone 202.387.8030,
by fax at 202.234.5176. CPT web page is http://www.cptech.org