Re: [ga] Re: The battle over .xxx again...

[Hugh Dierker <hdierker2204@xxxxxxxxx>]

Standards.  I will paraphrase and oversimplify. 
 
Just assume for a moment that all has gone well with anti-spamming or pornography law being passed.  The right motives existed and due process was followed and a consensus was reached.  Now as with all good rules someone has stretched it to the limit or intentionally violated it and is testing it in some tribunal.  Assume a Platos' Republic desire to enforce the law and a willing citizen to abide by the ruling.  
The first thing that our Jurists would do is look to the plain meaning of the text of the rule.
Assume again, that this is just unsatisfactory.  Now they look toward precedence in interpreting this rule, alas this helps not as it is a matter of first impression.  Now they will certainly look to learned treatises on the matter.  However in this case our friends at, Markle, Berman et al, and our resident legal beagles such as Drs. Froomkin and 
Beryhill have had more pressing engagements. So no treatises.
The Jurists are stuck at looking first hand at the committee reports and standards in the Industry to help them figure out logic and meaning to this new law.  Do RFCs help?  Why sure.  Do Org reports help? yes. Would Verisigns' input help? yes.  Microsofts? yes.  Would an informal working group within the GA help by tying it all together and getting broad userbased input from crazies such as myself help - No, it would not help, it would rule the day. This in fact would establish and industry standard. 
 
(yes, my scenario leaves out chicanery and bribes and misdeeds)
 
It is most assuredly outside of the mission for ICANN to make laws.  It is most assuredly within its mission to contract and help to establish these industry standards. Look for the UL label on anything you plug in, look at your home and see if it does not meet building standards that are later adopted as a Uniform Building Code.  A doctors standard of care has long been, that which a reasonable practitioner would do in the same or similar situation. (used to be locale, but telephones and internets and TV screwed that up)
 
An example would easily have been if we all decided that a domain name registration conferred an irrevocable property right in the name, then that could have been the standard and it would take one heck of a due process fight to change that fact.
 
However as it now stands.  Courts and regulators have to decide for themselves because the industry cannot even agree on simple definitions.  Good or bad I do not know but I do know that any void will be filled.
 
PS.  Yes I spent many hours with the relevant powers in Vietnam trying to get them to reserve .sex.vn for the purpose of using it as an educational locale on the net.  Objection over objection and Ministry after Ministry were sent my proposals including such nationally important matters as contraception, chastity, STDs, family planning, redirecting inquisitive young minds etc. etc.  Finally the final word was and this is a quote; Dr. Dierker you will not have sex in Vietnam. Well I showed them, I quickly brought my wife to the US.  ;>} Obedience of the law is the greatest freedom.

Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Stephane and all former DNSO GA members or other interested
stakeholders/users,

Stephane Bortzmeyer wrote:

> On Tue, Mar 23, 2004 at 09:12:22PM -0800,
> Jeff Williams wrote
> a message of 32 lines which said:
>
> > Seems to me in the .xxx specific case, depending on how it is
> > handled, it would be a good idea to have such a sTLD.
>
> Read RFC 3675 ".sex Considered Dangerous" first.

ROFLMAO! Well .sex might be dangerous in Some
African countries, which may have been the IETF's motivation
for the RFC you reference. .XXX is a different matter, yet
perhaps such a "xTLD" has some merit "contracted" correctly.
However given ICANN's lack of reasonable legal expertise
I would advise strongly against taking any contractual determination
of such an "xTLD/ Adult TLD" without independent stakeholder/user
review, as it would almost certainly be a magnet for under age
stakeholders/users and thereby have it's own moral and cultural
implications on a global scale..

As our friend and fellow stakeholder/user often told me,
"there is no sex/.sex in Vietnam"... >;)

Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams


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