[ga] An ICANN Staff Assault on our Rights

[Danny Younger <dannyyounger@xxxxxxxxx>]

In a post to the GNSO Council, ICANN Staffer Kurt Pritz points to section 4.2 
of the RAA and claims "These topics mark the boundaries of the "picket fence" 
within which policy development under the current RAA is possible."  He then 
goes on to outline a series of topics that "could not be imposed on registrars 
via Consensus Policies".

Such statements are an insult to our intelligence and seek to re-define and 
denigrate our rights.

The current incarnation of the RAA was formalized in 2001 -- long before the 
notion of a "picket fence" was ever conceptualized.  The language of the 
contract indicates that new and revised specifications and policies "may" be 
established on the certain topics; it does not preclude the establishment of 
policies on other topics.

Unlike the registry contracts that have clauses explicitly stating "In addition 
to the other limitations on Consensus Policies, they shall not: (A)  prescribe 
or limit the price of Registry Services;" etc., the RAA has no such language.

Kurt would have us believe that Registrar Auditing, Graduated Sanctions, and 
numerous other matters can not be addressed by way of Consensus Policy 
formulations -- he is dead wrong, and this is a dangerous step that he is 
taking.

Consensus Policy declarations are our only avenue to restrain rogue registrar 
behaviors.  Seeking to limit the possible scope of Consensus Policies as they 
pertain to registrars is an assault on the multi-stakeholder model that should 
not be tolerated.

Kurt's apparent goal is to convince the Council to pursue a course of action 
that would allow ICANN to offer "incentives" to registrars that comply with the 
new amendments.  

We don't need to further coddle the registrar community.  The approach being 
suggested is wrong on a great many levels.

One can only hope that the ICANN board will start paying attention to these 
developments and will act to reign in a Staff that has now strayed far from the 
straight and narrow.

Kurt's post is here:  
http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg06318.html