France Proposal for Internationalized ICANN Shows Need for Less Political DNS Dialogue, Say Experts

In light of a French proposal to “hold ICANN accountable under ‘international law’ and a ‘general assembly’ of governments on equal footing with civil society and private sector stakeholders, I'm convinced” DOTCOM “is needed now more than ever,” said Shimkus by email Friday. “If ICANN takes such an approach to its own oversight in the proposal it submits to NTIA, it’s in our national interest to reject that proposal.” DOTCOM, which would delay the transition until a GAO study, passed the House as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act May 22 (WID May 23 p3).

French Secretary of State for Digital Affairs Axelle Lemaire proposed a “general assembly” in the High-Level Government meeting June 23, said an ICANN transcript (http://bit.ly/1qKObdE), saying: “Why not create or make ICANN a really international organization where international agreements will be subjected to the principles of international law.” Lemaire expressed concerns over the delegation of .wine and .vin, which she said could interfere with France’s wine industry. “The matter of .wine and .vin was raised at the High Level Governmental Meeting, where some members expressed concerns in terms of ICANN’s accountability and public policy,” said ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) in its Wednesday communiqué (http://bit.ly/1jo8xUW). “These concerns are not shared by all members."

ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade expressed sympathy with the concerns expressed by members of Congress, in a video interview (http://bit.ly/1mBcUw2) with Brad White, ICANN communications director in North America, and ICANN board Chairman Steve Crocker posted Friday. The “fears” of “any one party controlling” or “fragmenting the Internet” are “real,” said Chehade. The June 23 speech (http://bit.ly/1qrRGIw) by Chinese Minister for Cyberspace Affairs Administration Lu Wei should allay some of those concerns, said Chehade. The speech was an “actual, practical, effective step on the part of the Chinese government to say, ‘We're going to do our part not to fragment the Internet'” and that the Chinese want to “participate” in a multistakeholder forum to “actually advance the Internet for the whole world,” he said. “This is, frankly, historic.”

"The French hissy fit over ICANN’s decision to let” .wine and .vin “proceed to delegation just reinforces” that they couldn’t “build” a GAC “consensus in favor of their position,” said Phil Corwin, founding principal of e-commerce and intellectual property law consultancy Virtualaw, by email. That the French “continue to stoke a trade dispute within a technical coordination organization responsible for the Internet address system shows that nation-states may try to use ICANN processes to gain political leverage on unrelated policy matters,” he said. That’s “cause for concern.” Governments “are stakeholders, so they should be part of the community that will hold ICANN accountable once the US steps out of its legacy role” with IANA, said NetChoice Executive Director Steve DelBianco, by email. “The French government’s position shows the risk of governments playing too a big role with ICANN,” he said. “The French are frustrated over trade negotiations that have nothing to do with internet domain names, but they nonetheless want ICANN to solve their problems.” France’s concern about the domains are “warranted,” but the country has additional avenues within ICANN to address their concerns, said Chehade in a news conference (http://bit.ly/1vp5xgw) June 23.

DelBianco said he hoped the controversy would help “members of Congress see why we need to leave politics out of the picture when it comes to making policies for managing internet domain names.” Said Corwin: “Congressional support” for ICANN’s Generic Names Supporting Organization’s proposal (http://bit.ly/1lsZ0fb) for a “new accountability mechanism is the best way to assure that the domain name system remains subject to private sector consensus rather than multilateral takeover.”