[governance] European Commission 'welcomes improvements in new IANA contract'

[Daniel Kalchev]

On Nov 15, 2011, at 4:38 PM, Roland Perry wrote:

>> The reason this is important is, because IANA has a rather simple role: to register who the TLD manager is.
> 
> And who decides who the manager is (or indeed that there can be a manager at all)? On one hand RFC1591 implies that once ISO has issued a code, then it follows automatically and inevitably that there will be a manager, and RFC1591 suggests that if mysterious "parties" agree[1] then IANA will rubber stamp it, but we see ICANN involved at the moment.
> 
> [1] Or not. Is the ICANN Board the successor to the IDNB?

This is subject of interpretation currently, after discovering that ICANN has applied too much deliberation in this area (and very much inconsistent case by case).

My interpretation of this situation is as follows:

- IANA is a registry. It records facts of "real life" (that is, outside Internet), specifically on the naming, but also on protocol numbers etc. IANA does not set policy in the sense of "rights" or "presence" -- rather IANA sets policies on a technical basis -- the procedures to follow to fitful its tasks.

- When a new (cc)TLD string is created, this is an empty slot, that MAY be filled. It does not necessarily mean there will be manager for it, nor who that manager might be.

- In theory, the new manager should self-appoint itself. Concerned parties should agree that they trust that party. This is what RFC1591 says with many words. ICANN has later introduced the role of Government and all sort of "interested parties" into this process.

That later part is troublesome. Some will argue that ICANN distorted the original policy, in order to adapt. Sure, they did.. but adapt to what? Certainly not public interest.

Another example is "an interested party is one who is interested in the re-delegation of the registry". Really? So I am interested in re-delegating the COM registry. And this makes me .. eligible to have my opinion considered? How does that sound?

Many examples like this.. this is complex issue, indeed.

Daniel____________________________________________________________
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