The new ICANN-Verisign deal, which effectively exempts Verisign from
having to spin off the NSI Registrar and gives them a presumptive
right to .com in perpetuity as well as other benefits, is currently
being discussed on the DNSO GA list.
The ICANN Board has asked the DNSO GA, Names Council, and
Constituencies, as well as the internet public, to provide feedback on
the proposed new contract before the deadline for approving it.
So far there appears to be a broad consensus on the DNSO General
Assembly that the new contract should be rejected, and the current
status quo contract should remain in effect.
Regardless of your position on this issue, you should join and make
your voice heard, because this decision will have an impact on all of
us, and on the domain market as a whole.
Some of the current reasons for the massive opposition to this new
contract are documented at:
http://www.dnso.org/clubpublic/ga/Arc06/msg01018.html
While I am in agreement with that post, if there was a similar post
showing reasons why the new contract should be approved, I would post
it here also, however none of those who have publicly stated support
for that contract have been willing or able to come up with any
substantive position to support it.
This issue could be critical to the DNSO and the DNSO General
Assembly, because it goes right to the heart of how ICANN is supposed
to work, and if the ICANN board ignores the broad consensus coming out
of the DNSO, then it can no longer hold on to the public illusion of
being a "bottom up consensus" organization.
But it can only do that if more than the "usual suspects" are a part
of the process.
If you have an opinion on whether Verisign/NSI should be permitted to
not divest themselves of their Registrar business as they previously
agreed to, and should hold a presumptive right to the .com registry in
perpetuity, then you need to add your voice to those who are already
actively working on this issue.
This is probably more a policy issue, so if you have any questions,
feel free to email me offlist, or take this to the policy list. With
all the Verisign/NSI sentiment this list has seen expressed, though, I
thought this issue should be brought to everyone.
Thank you for letting me waste 5 minutes of your time with this.
--
Best regards,
William mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
