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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> <st1:PersonName
w:st="on">KovenRonald@aol.com</st1:PersonName> [mailto:<st1:PersonName w:st="on">KovenRonald@aol.com</st1:PersonName>]
<br>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Geneva><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Geneva;color:black'>Yes, Avri --<br>
<br>
Reaffirming Art., 29 was the price that our Chinese friends and other
likeminded delegations made us pay for reaffirming Art. 19. That's what we get
for working thru the UN system and illustrates what to expect if we try to
fiddle too much with the ICANN arrangements to which so many civil society
members are allergic. Better the devil you know ...<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>But Rony, in case you hadn’t
noticed, ICANN has NEITHER Article 19 NOR Article 29 NOR the US First Amendment.
And ICANN has just passed (again, you must not be paying attention) a new gTLD
policy that reflects exactly what your Chinese friends wanted, not to mention
European advocates of other kinds of restrictions on expression. I will send
you the links if you are interested (but I suspect you are not). <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Do you like the idea of prior restraint
for ALL expression in domain names? Do you like the idea that a government can
object to a name because it is in a language script that they think they own
and they want a veto power over anyone using {Chinese/Korean/Cyrillic/your
favorite language here}? Do you like the idea of global standards of “public
order and morality” being applied in advance to any and all applications?
I hope you do, because that is all part of the new ICANN policy. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>So before you invoke ICANN pay attention
to the facts, please. I really wonder what you WPFC folks are thinking some
times. Does the fact that ICANN has a “made in the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">USA</st1:place></st1:country-region>”
sticker on it mean that you will defend it to the death regardless of what it
does? There are no allergies here to ICANN per se or to its model, there are
allergies to censorship, arbitrary power and the like. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Anyway, getting back to Internet for All, it
is meaningless to declare sweeping new “rights” when the “right”
in question is just a nice-sounding set of words and one has neither the
resources nor c clear definition of what it means in practice, nor the
political consensus and institutional capacity to deliver it on a global basis.
We should rather be asking, “what policies have actually succeeded in
expanding Internet access as rapidly as possible and “what policies do
the best job of ameliorating unacceptable levels of inequality in access?”
Those are realistic questions that can be answered with realistic and
implementable policies. Declaring universal rights makes the declarer feel
righteous but accomplishes nothing else, except perhaps to devalue the more
fundamental rights that are still not being protected. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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