The 2nd day of the ICANN meeting in Colombia was highlighted by The Government Advisory Committee (the GAC) open meeting yesterday with the ICANN board.
The room was packed.
Not a seat was avaliable and many people stood and leaned against the walls to hear what representatives of governments from around the world had to say about the new gTLD program and the current “final” Guidebook.
What the crowd witnessed was the GAC giving the ICANN board a good old fashion spanking over the gTLD process.
For those that don’t know, here is how the GAC is described on the ICANN site:
“””ICANN receives input from governments through the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). The GAC’s key role is to provide advice to ICANN on issues of public policy. In particular, the GAC considers ICANN’s activities and policies as they relate to the concerns of governments””
So at the meeting yesterday representatives of countries around the world shared their thoughts about the new gTLD process with the ICANN board.
Lets just say the ICANN board got a good working over, as country after country objected to passage of the new gTLD program at this time.
The representative for the UK set the tone for session.
“”We are not satisfied that the benefits from the new gTLD program are going to outweigh the costs”
“Having just received the economic report on Friday is terribly unhelpful to making a decision. There just isn’t enough time to evaluate that report.”
The UK representative who has apparently been lobbied hard by the trademark groups took the trademark groups position:
“”Brand owners have been the most agitated about this new gTLD program”
The solution offered to them, the trademark clearing house, the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS), those “rights protection mechanisms are not effect enough”.
“If your thinking of signing off on the guidebook this week, we do not think you are there.”
“We want to see if happen but i don’t think your there yet”
The representative from Norway also harshly chastised the ICANN Board:
“” The strong voice of UK is seconded.
“We agree we are not there yet”
“We won’t be there until we can understand that the benefits of the new gTLD opportunity for global businesses is greater than the cost to brand owners and those who are going to have to “shove out big time” .
“We need to understand what the opportunities are and mitigate the downside.”
“The brand owners see a tremendous downside.”
“We need to see what the upside is.”
“The representatives have made a consensus and we have not gotten a response to our suggestions we have made, nor any explanation of why this informed advice has been turned down”
“Some the recommendations of the GAC need to be addressed quickly”
The United States echoed many of the comments:
“The benefits (of the new gTLD program) simply have to outweigh the costs”
“We are held accountable and there has to be a return on this investment of the time and money we spend traveling to various destinations all around the world to give our advice”
The US representative then said to the board:
“How will you know when you are there?”
“No rational for the decisions that have been made have been given to us”
No one has drawn the conclusion that we should never do the program.
But there is an undue burden to certain categories (trademark holders) and when you violate the cost benefit ratio you have to increase the burden (which is very hard to do) or reduce the costs.
“The brand holder are the most vocal because its the fear of defensive registrations”
“We need to know the costs brand owners can anticipate”
The representative from Sweden complained that her time and her countries money was being wasted by attending numerous ICANN meetings:
“The Swedish government is concerned that we are traveling all around the world to attend ICANN meetings to give the advice and for that advice to be ignored time and time again is a waste of time and money”
“We are under increased pressure back home to justify all of the travel and all the expenses of attending all of the ICANN meetings.
“That is especially hard to justify when we are repeating the same advice and traveling all over the world to just have our advice ignored.”
“The GAC has been advising icon since 2007 on new gtld program, yet many public policy issues are still unresolved.”
“Now under the program if a government wants to file an objection to an extension that government must pay fees to file an objection, while we are already spending a lot of money to travel to give the advice now.”
“So if we have to pay a fee to object to an extension its not going to go over well at home.”
On geographic extensions if governments wants to file an objection they should be able to” do so without cost, moreover the objection process is overly complicated.”
The representative of the EU complained about the short time frame for taking in all of the documents and information, including the late breaking economic study that seemed to be rushed to publication the day after the US Department of Commerce called out ICANN for not having completed it.
“”EU
“The economic study need more time to take in.”
“The issues are complex and governments need time to brief its there staff and the heads of their countries.”
Many countries told ICANN that they had to report back to the heads of their respective countries who then needed time to develop a position on issues and all of that takes a lot of time which they are not afforded under now ever short time frames for commenting.
Bottom line to all of this is that the GAC does not believe the new gTLD program as it sits right now is ready to go.
On the other hand I’m not sure they ever will.
Clearly the trademark lobby has done a fantastic job in getting their positions across to the representatives of most major countries around the world to the point where the trademark holders concerns are the biggest concerns expressed by the governments against the new extensions.
If you sat in the meeting you would soon see the desperate need for lobbying and representation from the domainer side of the equation which sadly the industry has failed to support and the that the hard work and hard spending of the trademark group is paying dividends.
The ICANN board is voting on the new gTLD program on Friday.
Well after living in d.c. for decades.
ICANN will just hire gorgeous prostitutes and the next day those No votes will turn into Yes votes. As they leave the complex they will be handed thank you envelopes with $25,000 dollars in each one.
Reporting next quarter you will see ICANN’s balance sheet go from 65 million to 20 million.
But you can bet we will have new GLT’s.
A politician is just rat shit.
I can just imagine the domain investory community sending a representative all over the world to these meetings to also be ignored just like all the countries.
59 Million dollars ICANN now has in it’s coffers and it can’t even get a report out in time, or come up with responses to all these countries’ advice.
What damn clowns ! Nothing has ever changed for the better with ICANN. It’s run as informal as a Tupperware party with no damn organization.
I’m guessing they held back that report and timed the release of the report with the DOC’s complaint so they could say, “Ah-Ha ! Gotcha suckers! Here’s your reprot. Take that!” By doing this they took the wind out of the DOC’s scathing attack and simultaneously kept the attending countries from being able to absorb the report, thereby hopefully making it easier for ICANN to jam through their corrupt agenda.
So much for Rod Beckstrom turning ICANN around. He’s a nice guy and more engaged than previous leaders, but the same dirty politics are still being played out. Maybe he was sabotaged as was mentioned by some previously. I would not be surprised.
Dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty, rats ! Damn you ICANN. I hope you guys all get fired and end up working at KFC b/c your abilities top off at that level.
icann is a domainer.
the grand daddy of domainers.
safely profiting from the neverending registration of countless nonsensical domain names, and a few sensible ones.
yet insulated from the udrp fray.
distanced from the ugly business of domain sales and online advertising, but entirely reliant on those activities for their salaries.
they are also a deep pocket, with a conspicuously large travel budget and highly compensated CEO.
no worries. i’m sure they know exactly what they’re doing.
ICANN STILL THUMB MY NOSE !
Why is it that ICANN CEOs are always paid thru some arms-length (for profit?) company ?
Paul Twomey is paid via Argo Pacific that he and Ira Magaziner started.
Rod Beckstrom is paid via The Beckstrom Group; he is also a business partner of Ira Magaziner
Michael Roberts the first CEO was paid via The Darwin Group
Why is everything with ICANN some sort of Legal Shell Game ?
Excellent and informative post Mike. Thanks for a birds eye view of the meeting. This thing is becoming pretty intense and all logic is pointing in the same direction. Majority consensus should rule ICANN. If ICANN ignore global consensus, there will be a firestorm. Those who pay the bills will have been officially disenfranchised. A commenter above alluded to Beckstrom being business as usual. This appears to be entirely accurate.
I just re-realized something I had realized a year ago (I’m sure it’s in one of my old comments): ICANN’s shelf life is limited.
Nobody with guns and citizens to actually protect gives a crap about ICANN. The Internet is too big for them (ICANN). Something or someone will eventually replace them. They can only control it for so much longer, as everyone is bound to make a mistake. 1 mistake and these idiots are done for. In the end the bottom line is the real people don’t want to hear it and ICANN can cry about it. Time frame: unknown, but it looks like the new gtlds could be a big mistake as far as the people with guns are concerned. If they take this gamble and pass the new gtlds and it goes wrong, I’m gonna wish I owned TheWorldsSmallestViolin.com.
“gtlds could be a big mistake as far as the people with guns are concerned.”
==
One of the best ICANN stories of all time was two guys talking about making
application for a 2-letter TLD.
One guy pops up and says, “Hey 2-letter TLDs are for countries!!!”
The other guy says, “So ?”
The first guy said, “To be a country we will need some guns”
The second guy, “So?”
The first guy, “We don’t have any guns – So we are not a country”
[insert cartoon]
“The Internet is too big for them (ICANN). Something or someone will eventually replace them. They can only control it for so much longer, as everyone is bound to make a mistake.”
====
What is more likely is that new TLDs will be slipped in as some almost unrelated feature is added, that ICANN can not control.
Imagine an Internet with ONLY monochrome screens (B&W). Imagine someone inventing Color LCDs. Imagine a new “Internet Experience” catches on. Imagine that new experience happens to have TLDs. [Slipped in under the ICANN radar]
Imagine – John Lennon (would be 70 today)
warren buffett has publicly stated that the wealthier you get the less taxes you pay.
well, how to you think this happens?
if you could afford to use accountants and lawyers to help you reduce your potential liability in taxes or lawsuits, wouldn’t you do it?
all smart domainers use shell companies.
and all important intellectual property, is held by companies incorporated for that purpose alone.
reduce risk (taxes, lawsuits). maximise profit. otherwise known as business.
learned hand, arguably one of the nation’s most respected jurists, once wrote that citizens are *expected* to try to minimise their taxes. that was a long time ago when the railroad was the promising new carrier of commerce, not the internet. do a search if you want the exact phrasing. he was right. it’s true to this day. no one deliberately “overpays” as a means of helping their gov’t. i doubt they ever will.
risk reduction aside, what’s unfortunate is that many people automatically interpet “non-profit” oranisation to mean no one profits. and some believe it’s always an environment where there is no self-interest. this is not always true.
icann is a non-profit, but it’s employees are very well compenstated. and few of us would say they act in anyone’s interests but their own. same goes for mozilla. and an organisation that maintains certain “free” dns software. it’s a common model. all are “non-profit”. but very commercial. they don’t sell products. the products are “free”. they sell services, maintenence. but they do it under another closely associated but separate entity. you guessed it. a for-profit one.
“icann is a non-profit, but it’s employees are very well compenstated. and few of us would say they act in anyone’s interests but their own.”
=====
Really ? They don’t take a Vow of Poverty to “work” there ?
[Head Slap] THEY don’t “work” there, their for.profit offshore Shell.Company is paid
[Knee Slap] THEY sell their books while running around being paid to Bull.Shit
{ Insider Info: The ICANN CEO apparently runs BullShitters Anonymous ? Check out his Domain(s) }
[Note: At least the ICANN CEO has or had some domains. The first ICANN Chairperson did not even have a PC at home. The current ICANN Chairman
can not pass a basic Internet test.]
Summary (Key.Motivators (Money, Travel, No.Risk, Ladder.Climbing))
“it’s a common model. all are “non-profit”. but very commercial. they don’t sell products. the products are “free”. they sell services, maintenence.”
====
Yes, the “common model” has been noted for years. How some software companies think they can “compete” with someone operating a non-profit is baffling. The U.S. Government does not seem to care about the abuse of the non-profit purpose.
With ICANN (and the RIRs) things get more strange. Not only does the U.S. Government NOT seem to care, entire pieces of the Corporate Accounting Code and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) are ignored. Other
aspects of the FTC-regulated Franchise Laws are ignored.
ICANN seems to ride around on some Magic.Legal.Carpet created by the experts from Harvard.Berkman.Center and Uncle.Sam clears the path for
anything that gets in ICANN’s way.
Like Bernie Madoff, someone pointed out, ICANN has just not been “caught” yet.
“icann is a non-profit, but it’s employees are very well compenstated”
====
ICANN employees may feel they are under-paid
Florida.Gator.News – Head Coach Resigned (again) – Is this guy crazy ?
“Meyer’s salary was $4 million”
“Among the eight major-college programs looking for a head coach, Florida has the most resources. Meyer’s salary was $4 million, and Florida spent more on athletics — $101.8 million — than all but Texas, Ohio State and Tennessee in 2008-09, the most recent year for which NCAA filings are available.”
lol. unix should come with a warning label:
“may cause extreme sckepticism in some users.”
hey, if you can get a seat on the magic carpet, go for it.
before icann blows it all sky high.
(background: 70’s pop song about blowing it all sky high)
no, that’s gotta be wrong. icann must know what they’re doing. surely.
“no, that’s gotta be wrong. icann must know what they’re doing. surely.”
===
There is a massive amount of layering around ICANN from 10+ years of legal cat and mouse.
One ex U.S. Dept. of Justice attorney has been well protected (and paid) in the core of the Eco.System. Some might claim “he” knows what he is doing, “surely”.
What is impressive is the layer after layer of largely clueless people built around a small core of a dozen insiders. They come and go, appear to have authority, really have none, and suck the life out of people, pick their pockets, and fund the machine.
Then, you have the very strange relationship with Uncle Sam who provides PROTECTION at the most perfect (or inconvenient) times. Uncle Sam steps
in and slaps the machine around giving people the impression someone with
authority “Knows what they are doing, surely”. Do they ? Or, is Uncle Sam
driven by some ethereal reaction from the crowds and groupies that follow
the ICANN World Tour ?
Then you have the continuous swinging door of executive arrivals and
departures. Just when one thinks they could nail one of them on a cross,
they magically seem to know when to exit stage right. Do they get some
special hand signal from the inner core ? Or, do they think they have enough
millions and don’t want to continue risking that? THEY are Risk Adverse
people after all. The ICANN Eco.System and Magic.Carpet attracts them
like flies.
IF ICANN were a major telecom company and they floated the nonsense
they put out, like “Coming Soon NEW TLDs” they would be sued every
which way but Sunday for Over.Hanging the Market. It does not happen.
ICANN seems to treat lawsuits as “Sport”.
ICANN is the classic case for what many U.S. laws were meant to prevent.
The workaround is of course “We are International”. It is amazing to see
ICANN executives hauled before the U.S. Congress and the lawmakers
(and enforcers?) are left grasping at straws. The Band plays on. The Party
never ends. ICANN laughs all the way to the bank, offshore somewhere.
Do they know what they are doing ?
or do the people funding the Eco.System know what they are doing ? and they never appear or become embroiled in the public (risky) process!!!
Does the average domainer understand 1% of the Eco.System structure ?
Does the average consumer understand 1% of the BANKING Eco.System structure?
The parallels are striking.
Australians have a term “Peak” – They seem to seek the Peak Forums just for the sport of it – ICANN Eco.System players also seek “the Peak”
World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011
Davos-Klosters, Switzerland 26-30 January
Who will participate?
Participation in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting is by invitation only and limited to:
* The world’s leading chief executives of leading global businesses, representing the Forum’s 1,000 Member companies
* Politicians from the G20 and other key countries – including over 30 heads of state and government
* The heads of all major international organizations
* The chairs of the 72 Global Agenda Councils, representing a network of over 1,200 experts
* Representatives from civil society stakeholder groups
* Media leaders representing the top news organizations from around the world
* Young Global Leaders
* Social Entrepreneurs
* Technology Pioneers
* Spiritual and cultural leaders
that’s a good rant. really.
there is a lot of fabricated, unnecessary complexity in both systems. whether it is intentional or not, i can’t say for sure. i would lean toward saying no, it’s not intentional. there are smart people in the “inner circles”, as you call them, who like to create complex systems- it’s what they do well.
but in both cases the complexity works extremely well to maintain those “layers of clueless people”.
i’d venture to guess there are people being paid hansomely by the system who are truly clueless. i doubt it’s deliberate. they are policy people, not technical people. and then there are probably some who intentionally exploit the complexity, knowing the value of being able to sell people things they can’t truly understand. they are aware of the nonsense going on and hope that no one else notices.
and then there’s consumer apathy. why do we need to know how things really work? as long as the money is flowing, who cares?
well, that’s why someone like madoff can succeed.
as long as there is this tremendous disparity of knowledge, the obscene abuses of it will continue. absent some miraculous injection of ethical consciousness.
i’m still reading the economic studies. i’d much rather be reading a 10K.
at least in the banking industry we have a body of regulations and standards for disclosures. and the higher quality of the information available reflects that. icann’s documentation is governed by what? “consensus”?
“as long as there is this tremendous disparity of knowledge, the obscene abuses of it will continue. absent some miraculous injection of ethical consciousness.”
=====
Even when provided with “knowledge” and facts and Repeating.Patterns, etc. many humans absolutely refuse to believe the dots are connected in the way presented.
IF they were to believe the simplicity of the corruption, their entire Mental.World may collapse. There must be some self-preservation instincts that prevent humans from “allowing” that to happen. They concoct their own
Complex.Model and try to make the pieces fit. They don’t, but it keeps
them busy and distracted.
IF someone points out the Simplicity.of.the.Corruption and how the dots are
connected, many people can not fit that in their (incorrect) Complex.Model
and therefore, it must be wrong.
The Internet is one of the largest and most recent totally fabricated structures
that many humans now try to understand. The Simplicity.of.the.Corruption
of the Internet is SOOOOO Simple, people refuse to believe it. People are then
exploited, because they refuse to believe they are being exploited.
[[[[ that’s why someone like madoff can succeed. ]]]]
WorldCOM
Enron
it never ends
@ icannthewise
icann’s documentation is governed by what? “consensus”?
————————————————-
No, by Payola 🙂
Follow the .ORG MONEY it tells the whole story.
$56,000,000 per year from .ORG Registrants who have almost ZERO Voice or Vote
$16,000,000 per year to the ISOC for running NO Registry, servers, etc. NOTHING
$40,000,000 to ??? PIR ??? a couple of lawyers ?