[governance] US Congrerss & JPA

[Milton L Mueller]

>It is not impossible to imagine ways of rooting ICANN in, say, California
>private law once it's 'set free', but it is not easy, and hard to make
>stick without something as heavy-duty as a treaty.  So in practice, I
>think the two issues are more tightly coupled than advocates of the 'cut
>ICANN loose' vision want to admit.

Agreed, which is why we (IGP) proposed that the transition should be rooted in an international agreement. 
Unfortunately, the Congress is not calling for binding ICANN to Calif. law (or even U.S. law) it is calling for putting a JPA-like process in place indefinitely. I hope you'd agree that this gives us more of the worst of both worlds scenario... 

>I'd say, if I were ICANN's lawyer, that I'd want to move to Geneva about
>four seconds after the US government cut the tether.  And I bet the
>contingency plan to do just that is not just fully written, but years old.

Probably so. 

On Sun, 9 Aug 2009, Milton L Mueller wrote:

> Karl I think your heart is in the right place on these issues but you do
> the world a disservice by lending credence to this bogus "who lost the
> Internet" argument. Maybe if we were talking about the IANA
> contract....but the JPA????
>
> Your points about contracts are money flows are very good, but ICANN can
> remain rooted in California law - or any other jurisdictional basis for
> private contracts - without having an overlay of a politicized national
> government department looking over its shoulder.
>
> In other words, don't confuse the issue of US unilateral
> oversight/control with the issue of ICANN's jurisdictional home for
> private law. They are quite distinct.

--
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