US Gov't Interest In Domain Name Veto Represents Yet Another PR Nightmare
from the does-no-one-think-about-this-stuff dept
Last week, someone had sent over a document purporting to be from the Commerce Department advocating that ICANN's new open top level domain plan include a "government veto," that would let various government agencies seek to block a particular TLD. We didn't write about it at the time, because I couldn't confirm that it was real, and the whole thing seemed so ridiculous and short-sighted I didn't think that it could have really come out of the Commerce Department. Lesson learned: never underestimate the Commerce Department's ability to make really bad decisions.It appears that it's now been confirmed that the Commerce Department really does want veto power for any government over a particular TLD. The reports suggest that there's concern about TLD's like ".gay" which some countries may not like, and some of the fear is driven by the .xxx debacle, when ICANN initially approved a .xxx domain, thinking it would be a "redlight district" for porn, but then after public outcry, the US government pressured ICANN to change its mind. This was especially funny because no one seemed sure whether or not .xxx was good or bad for kids. There were some people who thought .xxx would be "good" for kids by creating an area that was easy to rope off and keep kids out of. Others argued that .xxx was bad because it admitted that porn existed (or something like that).
The whole thing was a complete mess, and now the US government seems to want to repeat that process around the world.
Here's why this is about as pointless as can be: already anyone can register any URL within the existing TLDs. No government has any veto power over the part that comes before the TLD. So what difference does it make to include a veto over what comes after the TLD. In what world does it make sense to say that "gaysex.com" is okay but "sex.gay" is not? Why does the government care?
Even worse, this whole thing creates a massive unnecessary PR nightmare for the administration. Already there are concerns around the world that ICANN -- a quasi-public/private entity -- is too much in the pocket of the US government. The Commerce Department has always tried to deny this, insisting that ICANN had autonomy. And yet... in pushing for this veto power, it's admitting that it actually does want to take greater control over ICANN... and to give other governments some veto power as well.
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Filed Under: commerce department, domain names, tlds, veto
Companies: icann
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Disclaimer: I am a US resident
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In this regard, the US did a very good thing to try to get it stopped.
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I'm a big First Amendment supporter, but there is simply no First Amendment issues with .xxx. If an ISP decided to block .xxx that's a private company making that decision, and not a First Amendment issue at all.
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At that point your ISP won't likely know what sites you're visiting.
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With an encrypted VPN and an end point out side your ISP there is nothing the ISP would see except noise datawise.
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Mike,
What if the ISP in question has a local government granted monopoly on cable service, or government subsidized phone service, and there are no equivalent internet access alternatives?
I agree with you that the net neutrality issue is actually a lack of competition issue. But the lack of competition is due to the deals that cable companies have cut with local governments to prevent competition.
Shouldn't an ISP that is supported in a significant way by the government also have to follow the same rules (ie, the Constitution)?
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The blocking is what I care about. To me, if there is any distinction between government owned and privately owned-but government granted monopoly or government subsidized, it is fuzzy.
Lets go back 30 years. Phone service is still a monopoly by AT&T - there is no alternative. If AT&T decided to block calls to phone sex lines, would it be a First Amendment issue?
Now back to today. Can your only local (and government supported) broadband provider block access to .xxx without it becoming a First Amendment issue? What if it is .jew, .atheist, or .africanamerican?
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Note the original comment we are all replying to:
"It also had incredible first amendment issues, allowing protected free speech to be blocked by ISPs and transit companies very easily.
In this regard, the US did a very good thing to try to get it stopped."
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Yes, the government burning books would be a first amendment issue. Does that mean the government should try to have books as a medium outlawed, so that they aren't tempted to burn then?
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".sex Considered Dangerous"
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3675
It has a LOT of arguments on why these kinds of TLDs are a bad idea.
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Wait. Oh, sorry. I'm fake-shilling on the wrong article...
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That was the most disturbing thing I have ever written.
/shudder
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you.dont.even.like.boys.and.you.are.so.gay ;)
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you.are.homophobic
Moron.
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Well, duh. Whatever the intent, using gay as a disparagement is homophobic. It's like calling someone retarded to belittle their intellect, except without the genuine comparison.
"That hit a nerve with you didn't it."
Yeah, it hit my 'look, another moron implying that being gay is a bad thing' nerve. I guess my sense of humour doesn't catch it first because being homophobic is pretty much the premise for the joke.
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No it isn't, any more than "sucks" is fellatory
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Uh, how does that prove it's not homophobic? If someone said 'sucks dick' then that would be fellatory, much like 'gays are bad' is homophobic. You appear to be ignoring the context.
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It does exist
so the legends are true it does exist!!!!!!
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Not Everyone Should Have a Top-Level-Domain.
Certain elements in ICANN (notably Esther Dyson, I believe) have become convinced that they can make a lot of money by selling top-level-domain names. This is essentially a dumb idea, because it destabilizes the top-level-domain system. TLD's work on the assumption that there are few enough of them that they can be checked out by extraordinary means. If you want to find out who the legitimate dot-uk registrar is, and what their IP address is, your ultimate resort is to send an emissary to London to ask. And then your man proceeds to Paris to ask about dot-fr. And so on. There is no global organization which has the right to settle the question by decree, certainly not the United States government.
The proposed operators of most of these proposed new "boutique" top-level-domains are private businessmen who think they can make money reselling names, and have therefore chosen to venture a hundred thousand dollars or whatever, but who have no identifiable authority or legitimacy. They do not represent convocations of kindred communities from all over the world.
I think the "blackball" system is quite appropriate for new non-territorial top-level-domains. If anyone objects, then no domain. Now, for country-code top-level-domains, the standard and traditional American rule of diplomacy is that we deal with de-facto governments, governments that actually exist and occupy territory. The same principle should therefore be applied to country codes.
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My son at 10 years old threatened to run away and said I would never hear from him again. So that weekend I told him I wanted to take him to a poster shop and buy some cool posters. I parked a couple of blocks away from the shop and walked him down Haight Street in San Francisco with the runaways and their dogs and their rags and their begging. He never threatened to run away again. I gave him the correct information and he made a decision. Hiding behind your church or your religion just creates a generation of know it all prima donnas that will create more problems than they solve.
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I'd be interested to hear from Mike, or any commenters who've got some ideas: what process do you think would be appropriate for doling out controversial TLDs like those above? Should ICANN just award the contract to the first person who asks? The first person who ponies up the several hundred thousand dollars it is likely to cost? Or should ICANN itself be in the business of deciding who "best" represents ".islam"? What the Department of Comemrce memo proposes may not be the best plan, maybe not even a good one, but not exactly the worst option either.
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New Domains and TLDs Already Here
ISPs such as Dashworlds.com offer a parallel Internet using new Dashcom (not Dotcom) Domain Names. Dashcoms are brand new web addresses in the format http://sports-com or http://stock-market or http://human-rights (Examples Only). With users and members in over 90 countries worldwide, resolution is via an APP (although ISP links are now available to negate that need).
Things change and grow. Not-so-long ago, people would have thought a web based magazine such as this to be a waste of time, effort and money. After all why would anyone want to fork out for hugely expensive computers, sign up for extra phone lines, buy modems and routers, buy an OS, learn how to use it all....Just so they could read a magazine?....Why?....When all they had to do was walk down to the local store.
Having just one Internet in infinite cyberspace is like saying you can go visit anywhere in America just as long as you stick to route 66. So today, just as in the USA (and everywhere else in the world) the Internet has more than one road to travel.
No, it's not ICANN, but it's the first real and viable alternative to hit the Internet. It works and it’s growing.
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