Letter from Senators+ on .ORG Sale

Thu Jan 9 11:52:13 EET 2020

Kathy

The letter itself is not bad. Actually it poses a number of good points which we have pushed for (e.g., content neutrality).

While U.S. congress critters have a right to ask questions, we have to be careful about what capacity they are asking in. Insofar as some parties involved are asking for Congressional intervention, a letter from a group of congressional representatives is not a simple matter of them expressing their opinions and concerns, it could be part of a potentially legislative or regulatory process. That does not seem to be the case in this instance, but be aware of crossing that line.

Dr. Milton L Mueller
Georgia Institute of Technology
School of Public Policy
[IGP_logo_gold block]

From: Kathy Kleiman <kathy at dnrc.tech>
Sent: Wednesday, January 8, 2020 3:56 PM
To: Mueller, Milton L <milton at gatech.edu>; NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: Letter from Senators+ on .ORG Sale

Hi Milton,

Happy New Year to you and All!  These are busy days with many deadlines. Apologies for the delay in responding to your important email below -- and tx to all who have weighed in.

To your statement that we "went through the IANA transition to liberate DNS governance from a single jurisdiction" and your question am I "comfortable with asking the US Congress to get involved in this" -- I respond:

--> We did go through a transition to ensure that the US Government would no longer be the oversight and veto mechanism of ICANN. Now the US Government is no longer "first among equals," but one of many groups and governments. In a process that impacts 10 million .ORG registrants, and the speech of millions of organizations and individuals, do I think that three Senators and a Congresswomen (including ones with a known interest and expertise in technology oversight and one representing Silicon Valley since 1993) should be stopped from sharing their questions?   No, everyone has a right to be part of the discussion and many are weighing in!
The eloquent NCSG letter which you (Milton) largely penned highlights the commitments made by ICANN, ISOC and PIR at the delegation of .ORG in 2002 which must be honored-- https://www.internetgovernance.org/2019/12/11/icann-told-to-make-ethos-capital-conform-to-original-org-rfp-criteria/

The SaveDotOrg Petition echoes many of the concerns voiced in the NCSG letter and was sent to ICANN by NCSG member EFF -- https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/cohn-et-al-to-botterman-et-al-17dec19-en.pdf

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right of Freedom of Opinion and Expression and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association are asking very important questions of ICANN -- https://freedex.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/2015/files/2019/12/OL-OTH-20.12.19-60.2019-ICANN.pdf

And the letter you mentioned, from Senators Wyden, Warren, Blumenthal and Congresswoman Eshoo, raises similarly important questions to ISOC, PIR, and Ethos -- https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-blumenthal-warren-and-eshoo-question-sale-of-org-domains-to-private-equity-firm

***

Further, as you know, the ICANN Board and ICANN Staff did not use the ICANN Multistakeholder Model in dramatically changing the terms of the .ORG contract this past summer (and the rights of the 10 million .org registrants -- which include virtually all of us on this list).  Via private contract, ICANN ran roughshod over the Multikstakeholder process and extended the Uniform Rapid Suspension to .ORG (a domain name dispute policy never intended for legacy names or the complexities of noncommercial/commercial disputes) and allowed the create of private rules of content -- the type in which Jon Nevett, former co-founder of Donuts and now President of PIR, delights. These terms are a danger to all .ORG registrants, particularly longtime organizations with well-established websites which criticize and critique governments and corporation.  ICANN Staff ignored comment during the preparation of this contract -- under the guise that "it's a private contract and they negotiate any terms they want" -- and then ignored 3200+ comments opposing the new .ORG agreement. I'm not sure ICANN is paying much attention, if any, to the Multistakeholder process.

So do I believe that organizations, individuals, UN representatives and even Senators and Congresswomen. have the right to raise their voices and join those asking questions of ICANN, ISOC, PIR and Ethos, absolutely. Frankly, I think the whole world should be raising their voices!
Best, Kathy

On 1/3/2020 8:41 PM, Mueller, Milton L wrote:

Kathy,

I am not at all comfortable with asking the U.S. Congress to get involved in this.

Are you? When Access Now called for Congress to get involved it was clearly due to their lack of experience and knowledge of the IG/ICANN space. We went through the IANA transition to liberate DNS governance from a single jurisdiction. If we call them back in then what do we say when the IPR interests ask for legislation regarding Whois?

--MM

-----Original Message-----

From: NCSG-Discuss <NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU><mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> On Behalf Of Kathy Kleiman

Sent: Thursday, December 26, 2019 8:38 AM

To: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU<mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>

Subject: Letter from Senators+ on .ORG Sale

Hi All,

Happy New Year!!  I don't think this has been posted on this list yet. On 12/23, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal, with Representative Anna Eshoo wrote a letter to PIR, Ethos Capital and ISOC questioning whether nonprofit groups, free speech and internet users would be harmed selling control of .ORG domains to a private equity firm.  It's a good letter that shows their staff did some in depth research.

Overview webpage:

https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-blumenthal-warren-and-eshoo-question-sale-of-org-domains-to-private-equity-firm

Letter itself:

https://www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/122319%20RW%20Letter%20to%20PIR%20ISOC%20Ethos.pdf

Best,

Kathy (Kleiman)

--

Kathy Kleiman

President, Domain Name Rights Coalition
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