[governance] ICANN Board Vote Signals Era of Censorship in Domain Names

Tue Apr 3 21:37:57 EDT 2007

I presume there are better arguments for content regulation than the 
national origin of those against content-regulation?

Robin

Alejandro Pisanty wrote:

>Vittorio,
>
>due to travel I'm not quite able to regularly access and especially reply to
>email, but am following this debate (I'm reading on Blackberry all day, but
>can't reply because of the thing's limitations, and my laptop connects only
>through a webmail - I have some firewall issues, which I've not been able to
>solve, with my usual ssh to server; and, am only connected this way once or
>twice a day.)
>
>So let me tell you YES, you are right, and pointing out the most serious
>problems with Milton's (and Froomkin's, etc.) positions, including the
>appalling parochiality of their US-centered views.)
>
>So, forza, Azzurri...
>
>Alx
>
>--
>Dr. Alejandro Pisanty
>Director General de Servicios de Cómputo Académico
>UNAM, Av. Universidad 3000, 04510 Mexico, D.F., Mexico
>Tels. +52-55-5622-8541, +52-55-5622-8542; Fax +52-55-5622-8540
>
>
>
>  
>
>>----- Message from vb at bertola.eu ---------
>>    Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2007 01:04:35 +0200
>>    From: Vittorio Bertola <vb at bertola.eu>
>>Reply-To: governance at lists.cpsr.org, Vittorio Bertola <vb at bertola.eu>
>> Subject: Re: [governance] ICANN Board Vote Signals Era of Censorship in
>>    
>>
>Domain Names
>  
>
>>      To: Milton Mueller <Mueller at syr.edu>
>>
>>Milton Mueller ha scritto:
>>    
>>
>>>You can come up with all kinds of after-the-fact rationalizations, as
>>>Vittorio does, but there is only one thing that has changed between June
>>>2005 (when the ICANN Board voted to approve the application) and last
>>>week (when they voted to kill it) and that is the strong and sustained
>>>objections of governments, opponents of pornography and adult
>>>webmasters.
>>>      
>>>
>>Actually, the most significant change in these years was that a relevant
>>part of the adult entertainment world, which initially supported the
>>proposal, changed their mind and started to actively oppose it. Vint
>>Cerf's vote, for example, was mostly due to this, as he said in his
>>declaration. And he was one of those who initially voted in favour of
>>negotiating an agreement.
>>
>>In any case, why do you think that opposition by governments should be
>>disregarded? They are a significant stakeholder and their opinion has to
>>be taken into account. Actually, one of ICANN's core values (see the
>>Bylaws) is:
>>
>>"11. While remaining rooted in the private sector, recognizing that
>>governments and public authorities are responsible for public policy and
>>duly taking into account governments' or public authorities'
>>recommendations."
>>
>> > .xxx was killed because it was controversial and ICANN
>>    
>>
>>>lacked the spine to stand up to that kind of pressure. full stop.
>>>      
>>>
>>It seems to me that you are trying to read the minds of Board members...
>>and not even correctly :-) Actually, you need more "spine" to stand up
>>to the multimillion dollar lawsuits that ICM is likely to bring.
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Let me dispose of the absurd notion that the semantics of a domain name
>>>doesn't affect the ability to express oneself freely online. This
>>>argument has been decisively rejected by a court in the US.
>>>      
>>>
>>Oh well, if a court in the US (one of the zillion courts in the US) says
>>so, then it's settled for the globe... :-)
>>
>>    
>>
>>>And it's intuitively obvious why this argument is silly. Imagine someone
>>>saying, "you cannot name your book "The Middle East: Peace or Aparthed"
>>>because that will offend the Israelis, but you can say whatever you like
>>>inside the book." Is that free expression?
>>>      
>>>
>>Top level domains are not the expression of an individual, they are
>>broad group names that are to be used by thousands or millions of
>>individuals together. You simply can't pretend to have exactly your own
>>favourite string as TLD - even if we had one million of them, there
>>wouldn't be enough to grant one to every user.
>>
>>Still, while I see how your free expression is harmed by not being able
>>to set up a website at the URL <trademark>sucks.com, I can't see how
>>your free expression is harmed by setting up your pro-abortion website
>>at proabortion.com rather than at pro.abortion. It is perhaps more
>>harmed by the fact that if no new gTLDs are introduced then it'll be
>>hard to find proabortion.<anything> still available.
>>
>>Incidentally, even if this wasn't a factor in the decision, I think
>>that, if ICANN had approved .xxx, one minute later there would have been
>>many governments suggesting to freeze the introduction of new gTLDs
>>until ICANN started to be more considerate in choices. In realpolitik
>>terms, it would have been a disaster.
>>--
>>vb.                   Vittorio Bertola - vb [a] bertola.eu   <--------
>>-------->  finally with a new website at http://bertola.eu/  <--------
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>>----- End message from vb at bertola.eu -----
>>    
>>
>
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