[governance] need for a host country agreement?

[Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law]

A host country agreement for a private corporation doesn't seem that 
sensible to me.

There is some precedent for domestic legislation giving some private 
companies with international aspects a special status.  Examples are the 
IOC and (I forget which) either INTELSAT or COMSAT.  Neither is a very 
attractive model, especially the IOC which has been so mired in scandal 
due to its lack of transparency and the absence of any form of oversight.

On Tue, 27 Sep 2005, Bret Fausett wrote:

> In calling for an adequate host country agreement for ICANN, please keep
> in mind that California law provides a number of protections for
> Directors, corporation members and the public in general that are in the
> interests of both civil society and Internet users. To the extent that
> the "host country agreement" is intended to provide privileges and
> immunities to ICANN from local law, remember the Auerbach v. ICANN
> lawsuit, backed by EFF, which ensured that a single Director was
> entitled to review the corporation's records against a claim by the
> President, General Counsel and a majority of the Directors that the
> records were private. That unfettered right to review ICANN's corporate
> records was guaranteed by California law. This is just one among many
> important provisions of California law that might be lost by insulating
> ICANN from local law. A host country agreement might make ICANN more
> international, but it also could have the unpleasant side effect of
> making ICANN more closed and less transparent.
>
>             Bret Fausett
> _______________________________________________
> governance mailing list
> governance at lists.cpsr.org
> https://ssl.cpsr.org/mailman/listinfo/governance
>

-- 
http://www.icannwatch.org   Personal Blog: http://www.discourse.net
A. Michael Froomkin   |    Professor of Law    |   froomkin at law.tm
U. Miami School of Law, P.O. Box 248087, Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA
+1 (305) 284-4285  |  +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax)  |  http://www.law.tm
                        -->It's @#$% hot here.<--
_______________________________________________
governance mailing list
governance at lists.cpsr.org
https://ssl.cpsr.org/mailman/listinfo/governance