On 07/01/2016 18:58, Andrew Sullivan wrote:
On "including the allocation and assignment of names in the root zone as a result of those policies," I don't object to the inclusion. But the board's overall proposed language is troubling:
In this role, ICANN’s scope includes the coordination of the development and implementation of domain name policies (including the allocation and assignment of names in the root zone as a result of those policies.)
First, the move to "includes" is in effect an unbounded scope, because it does not state where the end of the inclusion lies. But more troubling, this says, "development and implementation of domain name policies," as though ICANN has responsibility for domain names other than the root zone. It never has, it does not today, it should not, and it must not.
The DNS is a system of distributed authority: the SOA record, which marks a zone cut, is so named because it stands for "Start of Authority". ICANN has no more business telling me what to do in anvilwalrusden.com or crankycanuck.ca than I have business in telling them how to run icann.org. ICANN can make policies about under what conditions it will delegate from the root zone, and for those policies to have teeth it can of course say that if the delegated zone does not conform with a policy the delegation will be removed (although that has interesting stability implications). It can also make policies about any other zone for which it is the authority (such as icann.org). But it cannot make policies for domain names in general. This is a consequence of the DNS architecture.
Thank you for this technical explanation. Would the following work instead? In this role, ICANN’s shall coordinate the development and implementation of domain name policies for the root zone (including the allocation and assignment of names in the root zone as a result of those policies.) -- Malcolm Hutty | tel: +44 20 7645 3523 Head of Public Affairs | Read the LINX Public Affairs blog London Internet Exchange | http://publicaffairs.linx.net/ London Internet Exchange Ltd Monument Place, 24 Monument Street, London EC3R 8AJ Company Registered in England No. 3137929 Trinity Court, Trinity Street, Peterborough PE1 1DA