GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - VERY IMPORTANT INFO

polish_aristocrat · 02-15-2007, 05:18 PM

part 2....

Quote:

Vint Cerf asked for clarification on the issue of non-resolving registrations. He asked whether a request for a domain name not to resolve would incur a request for payment to the Registrar. That is, would payment be required to ensure that a name linked to a .XXX domain would not resolve. John Jeffrey advised that the agreement would permit ICM to charge in these circumstances. Susan Crawford added that ICM had made it clear however that such requests would be "deeply discounted" and would probably be limited to cost recovery. Susan noted ICM was attempting to address concerns in advance by individuals who may believe their name or some other words of significance should be prevented from resolving to a .XXX domain with a payment of a minimal fee.

Rita Rodin stated that she believed it was important to separate visceral or emotional feelings from the technical criteria when making a decision about the proposed .XXX domain. She noted that she was not on the Board during the previous discussions on .XXX and thus in preparation for the meeting had reviewed the materials prepared by staff and other information available about the proposed domain. Based on this review she had some concerns about whether the proposal met the criteria set forth in the RFP. For example, she noted that it was not clear to her whether the sponsoring community seeking to run the domain genuinely could be said to represent the adult on-line community. However Rita requested that John Jeffrey and Paul Twomey confirm that this sort of discussion should take place during this meeting. She said that she did not want to reopen issues if they had already had been decided by the Board.

Vint Cerf noted that had been the subject of debate by the Board in earlier discussions in 2006. He said that representatives of ICM had given a one-hour presentation at ICANN's Mar del Plata Meeting in April 2005 where they demonstrated what they believed was support from the adult online community. However, Vint said that it was his belief that in recent times (over the last six months) there seemed to have been a more negative reaction from members of the adult online community to the proposal. Rita Rodin agreed, saying that a review of the materials indicates that there seems to be a "splintering" of support in the adult on-line community. She thought this splintering suggested there may not be widespread support within the adult online community for the proposal. She was also concerned that approval of this domain in these circumstances would cause ICM to become a de facto arbiter of policies for pornography on the Internet. She expressed the view that she was not comfortable with ICANN saying to a self-defined group that they could define policy around pornography on the Internet. This was not part of ICANN's technical decision-making remit, she believed.

Kurt Pritz said that the last time ICANN had asked ICM to demonstrate support from the adult online community they had provided written support from about 24 major suppliers of adult online content. He acknowledged that ICANN had not asked ICM specifically about their level of support since the Board's decision on .XXX in June 2005.

Paul Twomey said the Board needed to focus in this discussion on the three issues presented, which he stated as whether there was a requirement for additional public comment period for the new version of Appendix S; clarification of issues to do with GAC advice ? for example, whether additional public policy advice was expected following the Wellington CommuniquĂ© and the status of the letter from the Chair and Chair elect; and whether ICM had demonstrated to the Board's satisfaction that it had met criteria against the RFP for sTLDs.

Vint Cerf agreed that the sponsorship grouping for a new TLD was difficult to define. He noted that consideration of .MOBI and .TRAVEL had been made more complex by this feature. He thought the intent of establishing a defined sponsorship community was to "hand off" policy development to the sponsoring group, so that ICANN would not be in the position of formulating policy but would be making decisions based on technical parameters. However, he believed what had happened in the case of the .XXX proposal was that a "thicket of regulation" had been created, but it was not clear if this will apply to a significant proportion of the online community or not.

Susan Crawford expressed the view that no group can demonstrate in advance that they will meet the interests and concerns of all members in their community and that this was an unrealistic expectation to place on any applicant. She also said that if that test was applied to any sponsor group for a new sTLD, none would ever be approved.

Roberto Gaetano said that he believed that there was significant opposition from the adult entertainment industry as they come to understand the repercussions and operation of this domain. He thought a substantial number in that community had changed their mind over the last six months. He said when the Board has evidence of substantial opposition that must be taken into account. He noted for .TRAVEL the Board had only one statement of opposition. In this case there had been hundreds.

Rita Rodin echoed what she saw as both Vint and Roberto's views. She believed that the reason ICANN had public comment periods was to take into account the views expressed during them. If the Board does not pay attention to those views, she said, this would support the oft-mentioned argument that the Board does pay attention to the community.

Raimundo Beca said he believed three things were relevant. First, the Board needed to determine whether to go to a further period of consultation of 21 days for the new version of Appendix S. Second, that there was substantial opposition that had been recorded in recent times. Third, that the Board needed a letter from ICM demonstrating that they had continued support from the majority of the adult online entertainment industry.

The Acting Chair indicated that he sensed from listening to the discussion that a majority of Board members held "serious concerns" about the level of support for the creation of the domain from the particular sponsoring community. He conducted a "straw poll" by asking each Board member and Liaison to express their view in relation to this matter, recognizing that Liaisons do not have a vote. He indicated he held serious concerns. Other Board Members and Liaisons who identified themselves as having "serious concerns" included Vint Cerf, Steve Goldstein, Rita Rodin, Roberto Gaetano, Vanda Scartezini, Demi Getschko, Sharil Tarmizi, Raimundo Beca, Vittorio Bertola and Suzanne Woolf. Vittorio Bertola noted that notwithstanding his concerns the ALAC did not yet have a final and unanimous view on whether the domain should be created or not, and in any case, as it had said previously, did not support the requirement of the sponsorship for new TLDs in itself.

Susan Crawford, Joichi Ito, and Dave Wodelet stated that they did not have serious concerns about the sponsorship criteria, and expressed the view that it was an inappropriate burden to place on ICM to ensure that the entire adult online community was supportive of the proposed domain. Paul Twomey expressed the view that he had concerns but had not reached a final conclusion as to their seriousness. Susan Crawford also wanted it made clear in the minutes of the meeting that a self-described community of sponsorship for the proposed domain was sufficient for some members of the Board including herself.