[governance] From the Christian Coalition "action alert", 8-20-05

[William Drake]

Hi Milton,

First we had the "UN wants to take over the Internet" meme, now this.  So
ICANN is a "liberal" organization.  Who knew?  Suddenly, it all makes
sense...ICANN is based in Marina del Rey, near the people's republic of
Santa Monica, and Los Angeles, a liberal Democratic stronghold and home to
godless Hollywood.  Also near to Venice Beach, a heaving vortex of sun-fed
immorality; untold possibilities for ICANN staff to be corrupted during
lunchtime strolls.  Further, ICANN has foreigners on its board, who of
course cannot be counted on to Defend American Freedom, and undoubtedly
want the children to be exposed to porn, hence the .xxx decision.  And to
top it off, its leadership talks a lot about something called
"internationalization," which sounds a bit like the One World Government
favored by the UN.

I would not be at all surprised if, having gotten a taste with the highly
useful .xxx controversy, America's christian right starts poking around in
other bits of Internet governance in search of high yield targets.  The IG
debate, and WSIS more generally, present all kinds of possibilities to
alarm and mobilize the troops, raise money, influence Congressional
staffers, get friendly Washington "think tanks" busy churning out position
papers, etc.  It might take some doing to sort out a semi-coherent
position---hate the UN and intergovernmentalism, but hate ICANN and "self
regulation" too---but that's not really necessary.  Who knows, maybe
they'll organize a campaign to get some people onto the ICANN board, like
the recent events praying for Supreme Court "vacancies" (aka the, um, exit
of moderates with lifetime appointments).   Hope that the Washington Times
or whomever doesn't discover the IG caucus, wild eyed conspiracy that we
are.

Stay tuned,

Bill


> -----Original Message-----
> From: governance-bounces at lists.cpsr.org
> [mailto:governance-bounces at lists.cpsr.org]On Behalf Of Milton Mueller
> Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2005 8:00 PM
> To: governance at lists.cpsr.org
> Subject: [governance] From the Christian Coalition "action alert",
> 8-20-05
>
>
> Note the claim that "Commerce Department Assistant Secretary Gallagher's
> agency can veto the decisions of the liberal Internet Corporation for
> Assigned Names and Numbers." --MM
>
> ======
> BUSH ADMINISTRATION PUTS HOLD ON THE PORNOGRAPHIC WEBSITE "XXX"
> DOMAIN; FINAL VOTE BY THE INTERNET CORPORATION FOR ASSIGNED NAMES AND
> NUMBERS (ICANN) EXPECTED ON SEPT. 15
>
> The Bush Administration acknowledged unprecedented opposition --
> according to the "Washington Times" (August 17, 2005) -- to the proposal
> of the Internet key oversight agency [Internet Corrporation for Assigned
> Names and Numbers (ICANN)], to establish a new "XXX" domain name
> designed as a virtual red-light district online.  As a result, Michael
> D. Gallagher, assistant secretary for communications and information at
> the Department of Commerce, called on ICANN to "ensure the best
> interests of the Internet community as a whole are fully considered."
> The department received thousands and thousands of letters and emails
> expressing outrage about the impact of pornography on families and
> children and objecting to setting aside a domain suffix for it.
> Mr. Gallagher described the volume of correspondence from outraged
> parents and other concerned citizens as "unprecedented".  Even the
> Chairman of the ICANN's Government Advisory Committee, Mohd Sharil
> Tarmizi, last week urged the ICANN to delay and said that many countries
> expressed "a strong sense of discomfort".  Commerce Department Assistant
> Secretary Gallagher's agency can veto the decisions of the liberal
> Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
>
> The online pornography industry earns a whopping $12 billion in
> revenues and if a new "XXX" domain is allowed for them, these earnings
> are expected to increase exponentially.  The pornographers will simply
> keep their existing ".com" sites and establish new sites in the new
> "XXX" domain name, reducing the effectiveness of any software filters
> set up to simply block all "XXX" names.  Please call President George W.
> Bush's representative at the Commerce Department, Assistant Secretary
> Michael D. Gallagher, at 202-482-2112, and urge him to VETO any Vote by
> the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers in favor of
> setting up the "XXX" pornographic domain site.


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