Response to a United Nations Letter on the IGO Working Group Final Report

Kamila SekiewiczBlog, GNSO

The ICA participated in responding to the United Nations, who had written a letter to the ICANN Board complaining about the IGO Working Group Final Report. The ICA was extensively involved in this Working Group and took issue with the UN’s complaints about the outcome. This Working Group spent four years examining the UDRP and how IGO’s and INGO’s could …

Majority Comments say “No URS by Contract at .Cat & .Pro” – While Staff Report on .Travel Comments is Two Weeks Past Due

Philip CorwinGNSO, ICA, ICANN, Law & Policy, URS

Once again, as it was with .Travel, the vast majority of comments on the proposed renewal Registry Agreements (RAs) for the legacy .Cat and .Pro gTLDs are united in their opposition to imposition of Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) and other new gTLD rights protection mechanisms (RPMs) by contract, arguing that this is a consensus policy decision that can only be …

Comments Run Overwhelmingly Against ICANN Staff Attempt to Impose URS on Legacy gTLDs

Philip CorwinAccountability, GNSO, ICA, ICANN, Law & Policy, URS

The comment period on the proposed renewal registry agreement for the .Travel legacy gTLD closed on Sunday, June 21st and the comments submitted are overwhelmingly opposed to ICANN staff’s attempt to impose any of the new gTLD rights protection mechanisms, including Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS), on legacy gTLDs through contracting rather than a formal Policy Development Process (PDP). In addition …

Electronic Frontier Foundation tells ICANN to Delete URS from .Travel

Philip CorwinAccountability, GNSO, ICANN, Law & Policy, UDRP, URS

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has just told ICANN to drop the notion of applying the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) dispute resolution system to .Travel and other legacy gTLDs without undertaking a full Policy Development Process (PDP). In a June 12 letter, EFF stated: ICANN should not apply URS to the .travel domain, or to any additional domains, by the …

GNSO, ccNSO, GAC, ALAC and SSAC Issue Unprecedented Joint Letter Questioning ICANN’s Staff-Imposed Accountability Process

Philip CorwinGNSO, ICANN, Law & Policy, NTIA

In another unpredicted development the entire community of ICANN stakeholders has sent a joint letter to CEO Fadi Chehade and the ICANN Board that strongly questions the “Enhancing ICANN Accountability and Governance – Process and Next Steps” document published by ICANN staff on August 14th over widespread community objections. Signatories to the August 26th letter (text below) include the GNSO …

GNSO Constituencies Issue Unanimous Joint Statement on ICANN Accountability

Philip CorwinGNSO, ICANN

In an unprecedented development, all stakeholder groups and constituencies comprising ICANN”s Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) unanimously endorsed a joint statement in support of the creation of an independent accountability mechanism “that provides meaningful review and adequate redress for those harmed by ICANN action or inaction in contravention of an agreed upon compact with the community”. The statement was read …