RE: [dow1-2tf] Last Call on Final Draft of Issues 1 and 2

["Milton Mueller" <mueller@xxxxxxx>]

Tim,
I'm still not sure I understand what your concerns are, so forgive me
if I am missing the target. But let me try to answer this, because I
still don't think you are raising an objection to the current draft,
indeed I think you are supporting it. 

>>> Tim Ruiz <tim@xxxxxxxxxxx> 11/24/2004 8:51:55 AM >>>
>ICANN's mission involves the security and stability of the Internet.
>At some point, that may take precendent over fostering competition.
If
>some country's local laws make it impossible for a registrar to
operate
>in a manner that complies with what is deemed as necessary policies
to
>ensure that stability and security then isn't it reasonable to
consider
>that until the conflicts are resolved, registrar accreditations in
that
>country may not be possible?

As I understand the current draft, the answer to your question is
"yes." And it is "yes" without any changes needed in the wording. Under
Step 3, item iii, if the deviations from the ICANN contract required by
local law are somehow so sweeping as to undermine ICANN's core mission
(as defined in the by-laws), then in the current draft the General
Counsel and Board are advised to recommend  de-accreditation of the
registrar. 

Moreover, I wish to emphasize that it would be _very_ difficult for
changes in Whois access to destabilize the DNS. I cannot say that it is
impossible, but I I have a difficult time thinking of any
privacy-related changes in the display or collection of Whois data that
would affect the stability and security of the DNS. Perhaps a very poor
implementation of some legal requirements might have that affect, but
the ICANN in that case could tell the registrar to change the
implementation or lose accreditation. 

As I tried to explain in a teleconference a few weeks ago, the display
of contact data is NOT central to the interoperability of the Internet,
the stability of its technical functioning, or the coordination of
unique identifiers. 

--MM