Kieren McCarthy: This is what is happening to Iraq's Internet domain.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the Verisign v. ICANN litigation, the GNSO process on new registry services, and related issues about innovation in the DNS and IP address arenas. Here are two things I believe:

1. ICANN should never exercise its regulatory authority over registries and registrars in such a way that stifles or slows innovation.  To the contrary, with minimal, light-handed oversight, ICANN should create an environment in which registries and registrars are encouraged to develop new services and reach new service levels.

2. Private innovation should never come at the expense of the public interest.  (And the corollary to No. 2:  ICANN has an important role to play in ensuring that the public interest is served for matters within its purview.) 

The fact that I don't view these as mutually exclusive speaks either to my optimism or my hopeless naivete. Can these two points be reconciled?

The GNSO is thinking about these same issues. I don't think this chart gets the balance right. New services ought to roll out from the service provider, not churn through such a complex flow chart.  At the same time, I have no hesitance in saying that Verisign should have announced what it was planning to do with Sitefinder in sufficient advance of the launch for service providers and others relying on the status quo to adapt. Had ICANN created a lighter regulatory environment, however, Verisign might not have felt the need to roll out the new service with no advance warning.

I suppose this is the start of a public comment I'll submit for the "new registry services" process, but it's not yet fully developed. More later.

The ICANN Board will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, June 29, 2004 via a closed, non-public teleconference.  The posted agenda is as follows:

• Procedure for Subsequent .net Registry Agreement
• Change of deletion language in the .org Agreement
• Provisional Redelegation of .ly
• Redelegation of .cd
• Finance Committee Recommendation regarding temporary budget
• Engagement of Auditors
• Approval of Directors Travel Expenses
• Litigation Update
• Update on SSAC Wildcard Report
• Other business

I'd be interested in seeing that Finance Committee recommendation on the "temporary budget." That's on the web site somewhere, isn't it?

Asia Pacific Media Network: "When an interim government takes over from the US-led occupation next week, Iraq will regain its place among the world's sovereign nations -- except on the internet. More than 240 places have their own two-letter internet country codes, from .ac for Ascension Island to .zw for Zimbabwe. There's even .ps for the Palestinian territories. But the domain assigned to Iraq, .iq, is stuck in a strange bureaucratic limbo -- the company that had administered it is under US criminal indictment -- and could remain there for months."

William F. Adkinson, Jr., senior policy counsel for the Progress & Freedom Foundation, via Free2Innovate.net: "The [.Net registry selection] criteria should strongly favor the incumbent operator where the incumbent has performed well, and disadvantage the incumbent where he has not. Past operation of the registry in question is uniquely relevant evidence of future operation." Bingo! It's absolutely crucial that ICANN consider past performance. No evaluation would be complete without considering the manner in which Verisign rolled out Sitefinder, IDNs, and other substantive changes to the zone files.

IANA Report on Redelegation of the .ps Top-Level Domain: "In January 2004, ICANN received an expression of interest to redelegate the .ps ccTLD to the Government Computer Center at the new Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology (MOTIT). The request was supported by the Palestinian Territory Government who, through the Palestinian Territory Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology (MOTIT), recognized GCC as the appropriate delegee for the .ps ccTLD."

New on the ICANN Web Site: .ps ccTLD Memorandum of Understanding (Effective 17 June 2004) .

From The Arizona Republic: "People like Reich are why the domain-name business is hot again. In fact, it's hotter now than it's ever been in the brief history of the Internet." Can this be true?

Two new postings on the ICANN site: ICANN-.NG ccTLD Memorandum of Understanding and IANA Report on Redelegation of the .ng Top-Level Domain. This follows press reports earlier this year about the Nigerian government asking ICANN for a "forced redelegation" of the ccTLD.

Now here's an idea...Siegfried Langenbach, writing on the Registrars' List: "If I use a lawyer he normally gives me a detailed list of activities together with his invoice. If we have to pay [ICANN's] bill I would strongly request something equivalent."

From the Pre-Registration List:

143 Asaad Alnajjar Asaad Y. Alnajjar Millennium Inc. / Acting Manager .IQ ccTLD USA / IRAQ

144 Mohamad Shaboot Mohamad Shaboot Millennium Inc. / .IQ ccTLD IRAQ

Related: Lextext :: Raising .IQ

"Eight Board members bumbling..."

The ICANN meetings are getting longer and longer. The Kuala Lumpur sessions begin with an open GAC Forum on Saturday, July 17th and conclude eight days later with a joint ICANN-ITU workshop on ccTLDs on Saturday, July 24th. Add (at least) a day of travel on both ends of that, and you wind up with a 10-day commitment. Assuming you can afford the airfare and the hotel, can you afford the time?

Truly, ICANN is no longer something for amateurs. I don't see how anyone who isn't paid to participate in ICANN can participate meaningfully in these sessions any longer. It shouldn't be a surprise then that the ICANN policy conversations are dominated by the registrars, registries, paid telecom lobbyists, and intellectual property associations. Users have day jobs.

According to a new study, 18.8% of all web visits are for pr0n. Yahoo! News: Web Porn Entices Far More Surfers Than Search-Study

Donna Leinwand in USATODAY: "Iraq's media commission and the U.S.-led administration in Iraq want to set up Web addresses using the domain code '.IQ' as the final tag. That would mean addresses for Web pages would be distinctively identified on the Internet with Iraq's own country code."

This landed in my in-box a few minutes ago: "Introducing Certified Offer ServiceSM from Network Solutions® — the fast, secure and easy way to place an instant offer on a domain name that is already taken. For only $19*, a certified offer will be presented directly to the person who has registered the domain name. You’ll get an answer within 7 days on whether the Seller is willing to accept your offer — letting you know quickly whether the domain name you want can be yours. Getting the domain name you want that is already registered has never been easier. Make a Certified Offer on it today."