[governance] ICANN Board Vote Signals Era of Censorship inDomain Names

[Milton Mueller]

>>> Vittorio Bertola <vb at bertola.eu> 04/03/07 7:04 PM >>>
>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. 

Not if they are proposing to restrict a fundamental human right. 

And "governments" don't have a single opinion, in case you hadn't
noticed. We have over 200 of them and their laws don't agree on this
matter. This business of lumping so-called "stakeholders" into
homogeneous groups is really getting out of hand. 

>Actually, one of ICANN's core values (see the 
>Bylaws) is:

[laughing out loud] that craven "core value" was added in the immediate
aftermath of WSIS. Again demonstrating that we are dealing more with
intimidation and pandering to power than anything else.

>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... :-)

Vittorio, let's try to keep the argument honest, ok? First, this was a
federal circuit court in the US, not one of "zillions." ICM registry and
in fact about 80% of the gTLD industry litigation (and adult industry)
is in the US. And the point is not that US law applies globally, but
that in the one case I know of where the issue of the speech status of
domains was actually put before a national-level court, your argument
lost. Can you provide any examples of European courts which have ruled
differently? Asian courts (assuming you can find a country there that
legally protects free expression)? That would be an informed,
constructive contribution.

>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.

Excuse me, where is this principle enshrined in law? Or did you just
make it up? Anyway, they are labels that can be adopted by individuals.

>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. 

Expression is restricted whenever a person who wishes to express
themselves in their preferred mnanner is prevented from doing so. It's
not for you to decide for others how they express themselves or what
domain they use.


____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, send any message to:
     governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org

For all list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance