"Elisabeth Porteneuve" <elisabeth.porteneuve@cetp.ipsl.fr> wrote:
The Affirmation of Commitment by DOC and ICANN has been published on ICANN's website on time, the Internet is twitting, newspapers giving first comments.
IMHO there are no surprises in the announcement. It looks like a pretty much middle of the road "keep on doing what you're doing because you're on the right path" kind of commitment. It reinforces the significance of the GAC, which I think is a good thing if ICANN wishes to enhance its legitimacy with governments worldwide and make them understand that a multi-stakeholder model is better for everyone. Points which are likely to make some cringe are the commitment that: "5. ...Nothing in this document is an expression of support by DOC of any specific plan or proposal for the implementation of new generic top level domain names (gTLDs) or is an expression by DOC of a view that the potential consumer benefits of new gTLDs outweigh the potential costs." With a context of clear support for ccTLDs and IDNs in the paragraph, take this sentence any way you wish... "8. (b) remain a not for profit corporation, headquartered in the United States of America with offices around the world to meet the needs of a global community;" But then no official proposals had been suggested for an alternative, so what did we expect? ...and a mention in the concluding paragraph: "11. The DOC enters into this Affirmation of Commitments pursuant to its authority under 15 U.S.C. 1512 and 47 U.S.C. 902. ICANN commits to this Affirmation according to its Articles of Incorporation and its Bylaws. This agreement will become effective October 1, 2009. The agreement is intended to be long-standing, but may be amended at any time by mutual consent of the parties. Any party may terminate this Affirmation of Commitments by providing 120 days written notice to the other party. This Affirmation contemplates no transfer of funds between the parties. In the event this Affirmation of Commitments is terminated, each party shall be solely responsible for the payment of any expenses it has incurred. All obligations of the DOC under this Affirmation of Commitments are subject to the availability of funds." Which IMHO has been mis-written because it takes standard contract terms re: payments incurred. Elsewhere, this paragraph contains a sentence providing hope that ICANN will further be able to internationalise in the future: "The agreement is intended to be long-standing, but may be amended at any time by mutual consent of the parties" But a sticky point: "Any party may terminate this Affirmation of Commitments by providing 120 days written notice to the other party." Which opens the question to the US Dept. of Commerce being able to pull the plug at 4 months notice. And then what happens? There doesn't seem to be a fallback state if this happens... I must be missing something... Kind regards, Olivier -- Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond, PhD http://www.gih.com/ocl.html