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[council] Beyond the Contract: Partnering to Strengthen Business and Consumer Protections
- To: "council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Subject: [council] Beyond the Contract: Partnering to Strengthen Business and Consumer Protections
- From: Bruce Tonkin <Bruce.Tonkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2015 00:23:06 +0000
- Accept-language: en-AU, en-US
- List-id: council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Sender: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Thread-index: AdB0stOdbYLQV2NUQSCBNjs445GTzwAA++IQ
- Thread-topic: Beyond the Contract: Partnering to Strengthen Business and Consumer Protections
Hello All
This blog post from Allen Grogen at
https://www.icann.org/news/blog/beyond-the-contract-partnering-to-strengthen-business-and-consumer-protections
maybe of interest.
Recently ICANN received a formal letter
[https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/shatan-to-atallah-27mar15-en.pdf
] from Gregory Shatan, President of ICANN's Intellectual Property Constituency
(IPC), on behalf of the IPC, asking us to halt the rollout of .SUCKS, a new
gTLD operated by Vox Populi Registry Inc. In the letter, the IPC described
the proposed business practices and actions of Vox Populi as "illicit" and
"predatory, exploitive and coercive." As responsible stewards of the
Internet, we take these allegations seriously.
ICANN's enforcement ability lies within a contractual framework. We can
enforce the terms and conditions of our contracts with registries, but it is
the responsibility of governmental regulatory agencies, law enforcement and the
courts to police illegal activity. ICANN is not a regulator and we have
limited expertise or authority to assess the legality of Vox Populi's
activities.
Due to the serious nature of the allegations, we have sent letters
[https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/jeffrey-to-ramirez-knubley-09apr15-en.pdf
] to both the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and, because Vox Populi is a
Canadian enterprise, Canada's Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA) asking them to
consider assessing and determining whether or not Vox Populi is violating any
of the laws or regulations those agencies enforce. ICANN is currently
evaluating remedies available to us under the registry agreement. As we noted
in those letters, if Vox Populi is not complying with all applicable laws, it
may also be in breach of its registry agreement. ICANN could then act
consistently with its public interest goals and consumer and business
protections to change these practices through our contractual relationship with
the registry.
When I was appointed to the position of Chief Contract Compliance Officer last
October, I made a commitment to look for ways that ICANN can help safeguard
Internet users and registrants that may go beyond the contractual enforcement
tasks for which we are responsible. Asking the FTC and OCA for their
assistance in this matter is one example of how we can work with others to
strengthen our consumer and business protections and enhance our ability to
meet public interest goals. Let's continue to work together as a
multistakeholder community to build trust and advance the reputation of our
industry.
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