Phil Corwin from the Internet Commerce Association (ICA), of which we are a Gold Member of, is speaking at a Heritage Foundation event on ICANN taking place from 3-4:30 pm tomorrow along with Senator Ted Cruz.
The event is entitled:
What Are the Concerns about Ending the U.S. Contractual Relationship with ICANN?
The event will be webcast live.
http://www.heritage.org/events/2016/07/icann
Here is how the program is described:
The Commerce Department plans to give up its historic role as guarantor of the technical backbone of the Internet. Unless Commerce changes course by mid-August, the “IANA” contract, by which it has supervised the Internet’s domain name system, will lapse at the end of September.
But is the so-called “IANA Transition” a good idea? Should we rush the Transition to get it done before the election, even if it means jeopardizing free expression and enterprise online? Will the proposed accountability and transparency safeguards really be enough? And either way, what might happen in the courts?
More About the Speakers
Keynote Remarks by
The Honorable Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Member, United States Senate
Followed by a Panel Discussion with
Berin Szoka
President, TechFreedom
Brett Schaefer
Jay Kingham Senior Research Fellow in International Regulatory Affairs, The Heritage Foundation
Paul McGrady
Partner, Winston & Strawn LLP and Chair of Trademark, Domain Names and Brand Enforcement Practice
Philip Corwin
Founding Principal, Virtualaw LLC
Moderated by
Greg Thomas
President, Governance+Economics+Technology|Institute on Transformation
Is he speaking on behalf of the ICA?
Recently, I participated in an ICA conference call along with Phil Corwin, Nat Cohen, Elliot Silver, and other ICA members in which we explicitly discussed whether articles written by individual ICA members should be viewed as individual viewpoints or as official positions of the ICA as a whole. My recollection is that Phil Corwin emphasized that ICA members should (like himself) write in their own voice from their own perspective. And that was, I believe, the consensus.
I think I’m breaching no confidence in saying this. ICA members have a range of different opinions, after all. Generally we all respond to events as they happen, with no voting or vetting. So unless Phil Corwin says he is giving the official ICA position, I would advise against that interpretation. Even if I and most ICA members might agree with Phil Corwin’s position and perhaps applaud the work that he does, Phil Corwin has a mind of his own. I mean that in the best sense possible.
Of course, Phil Corwin or Nat Cohen are free to come along and clarify. I just saw your question dangling unanswered; so I’m doing my best to clarify. Hopefully I’m not being presumptuous in doing so. Keep in mind, I don’t speak on behalf of the ICA in any official capacity either.
Thanks Joseph. Phil made clear to the board that he will be speaking on this panel in his personal capacity and not as a representative of the ICA.
Phil, of course, does often speak and write on behalf of the ICA, after the members have an opportunity to provide feedback and comments on the proposed positions. Those posts are usually found on the ICA website.
Nat, are you planning to attend since it is down the street from you?
(quick metro ride).
It is impressive that the Heritage Foundation is hosting this meeting.
and, it is basically 2-3 blocks from the U.S. Capitol.
Plus you can go over to the popular Union Pub afterwards for happy hour.
I thought about driving in but my wife reminded me about another commitment tomorrow afternoon .
Just watched the taped version of the panel discussion.
I was surprised to see –
“Due to technical difficulties, a portion of the panel following Sen. Cruz’s address has been lost.”
What I saw of the discussion, Phil and others were very informative.
However, I forgot this is Washington where important information is often accidentally erased.
(laugh)
Has this ever happened before at a Heritage Foundation where a panel discussion is erased (or lost)??
(smile)
I am sure it was a fluke but it is funny that it happened within 1 mile of the U.S. Capitol, 1 mile of the U.S. Dept of Commerce (agency responsible for Icann oversight) and 2 miles from the White House.
Just have to laugh.
Same happened to me, but I returned to the link today and was able to view the portion that was not streamed live.
Spoke too soon – was able to see more than what was shown live but it still cut off well before the end of the discussion. Maybe the Heritage Foundation should just stick to old-timey stuff.