RE: [ga] Destroying the Utility of the DNS

["Neuman, Jeff" <Jeff.Neuman@xxxxxxxxxx>]

All,

The substance of Danny's post I believe (personally speaking) is on
point.  In fact, after .biz was approved we did receive a letter from
the Bank of International Settlements stating that .biz was a protected
IGO name and therefore ICANN should have retracted its approval of .biz.
See:

http://www.icann.org/correspondence/bank-for-international-settlements-t
o-roberts-22mar01.htm

At that point time, we had discussions with the ICANN General Counsel,
Louis Touton, and drafted a response which is posted here:
http://www.icann.org/correspondence/touton-letter-to-bank-for-internatio
nal-settlements-21may01.htm

I have a hard time reconciling how ICANN staff can issue this legal
opinion letter to the Bank of International Settlements in 2001 and now
draft this "staff report".

Here is the conclusion of the ICANN GC Letter:

"While we appreciate the Bank's desire to formally assert whatever legal
rights it may have, an exclusion of the use of the string "biz" as an
Internet top-level domain is not supported by legal principles and would
be contrary to the global public interest. With respect for the proper
scope of the Bank's rights under Article 6ter, ICANN is proceeding with
the introduction of the .biz top-level domain."

We should continue to follow that precedent here.



Jeffrey J. Neuman, Esq. 
Sr. Director, Law, Advanced Services  & 

Business Development 

NeuStar, Inc. 
e-mail: Jeff.Neuman@xxxxxxxxxx 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Danny Younger
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 3:38 PM
To: ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ga] Destroying the Utility of the DNS

>From the Staff Report on a Draft IGO Domain Name
Dispute Resolution Procedure:

"The protection of IGO names and abbreviations is
foreseen in the new gTLD process, with an
objections-based approach for strings at the
top-level...; The objections-based approach for new
gTLD top-level
strings is part of a broader development task for
objections-based dispute resolution procedures for
top-level strings that are under development by ICANN
staff with the assistance of outside counsel."

Protecting IGO abbreviations at the top level is an
astoundingly horrible idea that has already been
consecrated by the GNSO Council in their new gTLD
Recommendation #3.

Attached to this message is a Word document listing
all the IGO acronyms currently protected under Article
6ter of the Paris Convention.  You will note that both
BIZ and AU are protected acronyms, and that the great
bulk of the entries are three and four letter
combinations.

Additionally there is a "dispute resolution process
(DRP) being proposed for domain names at the second
(and if applicable, third) levels that conflict with
IGO names and acronyms."

If these policies are adopted, it will be the greatest
clusterfuck in DNS history.

you can read about this abomination at
http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/gnso-igo-drp-report-v2-28sep07.pdf


       
________________________________________________________________________
____________
Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's
updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games.
http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=monopolyherenow