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Re: [registrars] .COOP agreement


Hi Ross,

I understand it is is easy to let oneself be carried away in a "we-versus-them" view of the world. In the one you are proposing here, the would be registrars+users on one side, an the registries+TLD sponsors on the other.

Just remember other dividing lines are being proposed as well. The London School of Economics' proposed a "registration interests" view, where registries and registrars are seen as the same crowd. Or, I might distinguish between "high-volume interests" (such as Tucows and Verisign) and "diversity interests" (my version of "the rest of us").

What about recognizing the ICANN world as being divided between those who can afford extensive lobbying, and those who cannot? Consensus policies tend to be shaped according to the interests of the former, and to ignore the latter. In this respect, the mechanism in the proposed .coop contract is simple and elegant. It provides minimal protection to registries (and their constituents) who cannot afford to have near full-time lobbyists in every ICANN working group. And this protection merely consists of an ability to be heard.

But we might just as well just worry about well-designed contracts from a public-benefit perspective. The contracts must be able to deal with future, yet unknown issues.

It is actually also an advantage for the timeliness of consensus policies. *If* there is a path obtain exemption in a deserving special case, *then* it is much easier faster to devise a consensus policy for the general case.

Regards,

Werner



Ross Rader wrote:
CORE Secretariat wrote:

I conclude that this phrase actually does deserve to be in all sponsored TLD agreements.

As a registry operator, I'm not surprised to see CORE take this position.

For the rest of us who do business as registrars and work with registrants, the existence of these exemptions is a concern.

ICANN has no right to delegate away the policy responsibilities of the community via its contracts with registry operators and - yet it continues to do so.

-ross


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CORE Internet Council of Registrars   http://corenic.org
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