-----Original Message-----
Just for the record, I am a strong supporter of community TLDs and therefore think these kinds of commitments should be enforceable
J. Beckwith Burr
Becky, this is a non sequitur. The issue is not whether there can be or should be community TLDs, but whether the wider community that makes policy within ICANN, such as GNSO, ALAC or GAC, can impose enforceable commitments on proposed community TLDs as a condition of their acceptance. If the original proposer of the community TLD wants to bind themselves to do something (e.g., require all registrants to wear purple hats) I don't care. If GAC, GNSO, or ALAC conspire to get ICANN to reject a community TLD applicant because it doesn't require its registrants to wear purple hats, ICANN is straying from its mission. Furthermore, if ICANN has two similar competing applicants for the same TLD string, and GAC, ALAC, GNSO or whoever urges ICANN to choose applicant A over applicant B because A promises to force all its registrants to wear purple hats, then that should be challengeable via IRP as exceeding ICANN's mission. Do we agree on that much? Dr. Milton L Mueller Professor, School of Public Policy Georgia Institute of Technology Internet Governance Project