On May 6, 1999, the following statement was posted on the ICANN web site at http://www.icann.org/wipo/wipo.htmThe ICANN Board of Directors will consider the WIPO Final Report, including its annexes, at its May 27 meeting and will take appropriate action, which may include from [sic] seeking further comments on the recommendations, referring of some or all of them to other ICANN entities, and/or adopting certain of the recommendations.The undersigned strongly object to the last phrase in this sentence, referring to "adopting certain of the recommendations." We wish to see any reference to "adoption" removed from the Berlin meeting agenda.
Under the "bottom up" philosophy articulated in the White Paper and in ICANN's own by-laws, important decisions regarding domain name policy were supposed to be passed up to ICANN's board by the Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO). The DNSO does not exist yet. ICANN has encouraged numerous individuals and organizations to make substantial investments in the creation of the DNSO and its constituencies, with the promise that good-faith participation in the process would give them a voice in policy making. Those expectations would be unjustly frustrated if ICANN adopted any recommendations of the WIPO proposals in Berlin.
ICANN's current board was appointed on a temporary basis and was not elected by a membership. Its sole mandate is to get the organization started and to fill the gaps in its membership, board and by-laws. It is not appropriate for a board with interim status to make lasting policy on such a sensitive and complex matter. It is, in fact, a cause for great concern for ICANN even to publicly propose adopting such proposals at this juncture.
The WIPO recommendations comprise over 120 pages of dense legal prose. The final report will have been out for public consideration only three weeks when the Berlin meeting is convened. Whether one supports or opposes the proposals, it is undeniable that they will have a profound and permanent impact on domain name registrations and on international intellectual property rights. No legitimate purpose can be served by hasty adoption or by short-circuiting the deliberative process that ICANN was created to foster. Furthermore, we question the ability of the current Board to properly assess the WIPO recommendations and comments about them amidst the flood of comments and documents pertaining to other important matters, such as the DNSO, ASO, and PSO formation, the definition of the constituencies, and the Membership Advisory Committee recommendations.
We feel that the whole idea of ICANN would be undermined if the interim board were to make fundamental and permanent changes in domain name policy with inadequate information, without even the possibility of consultation with a DNSO and the other supporting organizations, and without members. The overall effect would be highly destructive of the trust and cooperation that is required to run the Internet properly.
We urge the Board to wait until the DNSO is formed and then send the WIPO report to the DNSO for the DNSO's consideration.
Signed:
- Laina Raveendran Greene, GetIT Pte Ltd., WIPO Panel of Experts, SINGAPORE
- Roger Hicks, WIPO Panel of Experts, NEW ZEALAND
- Philip L. Sbarbaro, Esq., WIPO Panel of Experts, USA
- A. Michael Froomkin, WIPO Panel of Experts, USA
- Ellen Rony and Peter Rony, Authors, Domain Name Handbook, USA
- Milton Mueller, Syracuse University School of Information Studies, USA
- Tamar Frankel, Boston University School of Law, USA
- Lawrence Lessig, Harvard University, USA
- Donald N. Telage, Senior Vice President, Network Solutions, Inc. USA
- David J. Farber, University of Pennsylvania, USA
- Kathy Kleiman, Esq., Counsel, Domain Name Rights Coalition, USA
- Scott Bradner, Harvard University USA
- Anthony M. Rutkowski, USA
- James V. DeLong, USA
- Dan Steinberg SYNTHESIS Law & Technology, CANADA
- Harold Feld, USA
- Tressa Kirby, VRx, CANADA
- Richard Sexton, VRx, CANADA
- Gene Marsh, AnyCAST, USA
- David J. Steele, USA
- Gordon Cook, The Cook Report on the Internet, USA
- Karl Auerbach, Former Co-chair, IETF Poised Working Group, USA
- Image Online Design, Inc. USA
- Jay Fenello, Iperdome, Inc. USA
- Patrick Greenwell, Telocity, USA
- Mikki Barry, Esq. USA
- Diane Cabell, ICANN Membership Advisory Committee
- Eric Weisberg, Internet Texoma, USA
- David Schutt, Speco Inc., USA
- James Love, Consumer Project on Technology, USA
- Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, USA
- Peter Veeck, Regional Web, USA
- Eva Jettmar, SRCT Lab Group, Stanford University, USA
- Paul Garrin, Name.Space International, USA
- Babeth Mondini, School of the Arts, Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS
- Craig A. Johnson, Transnational Data Reporting Service, Inc. USA
- Marcy J. Gordon, Esq., Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, USA
- Shumpei Kumon, Center for Global Communications, International University of Japan, JAPAN
- Adam Peake, Center for Global Communications, International University of Japan, JAPAN
- Alex Adriaansens, V2 Organisation, NETHERLANDS
- Melvin Khoo, GetIT Pte Ltd., SINGAPORE
- Charles Mok, HKNet, HONG KONG
- Sebastian Luetgert, Rolux.org, GERMANY
- InterWorking Labs, Inc. USA
- Mohamed B. Awang-Lah, Mimos Berhad, MALAYSIA
- Oscar A. Robles Garay, NIC-Mexico, MEXICO
- Coralee Whitcomb, Virtually Wired Educational Foundation, USA
- Onno Hovers, NETHERLANDS
- Kevin M. Kelly, USA
- Bill Gerrard, DNS Central, USA
- Ray Hallman, UniWebs Corporation, USA
- David R. Johnson, USA
- Craig McTaggart, CANADA
- Mark Henderson-Thynne, UNITED KINGDOM
- Robert Raisch, USA
- Jean Armour Polly, Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages, USA
- Ronald J. Fitzherbert, Registry.org, USA
- Wendy Seltzer, Harvard Law School, USA
- Steinar Haug, Nethelp Consulting, NORWAY
- Karl E. Peters, Bridge International Holdings, Inc. USA
- Jim Williams, USA
- William X. Walsh, DSO Internet, USA
- S. K. Martin, AUSTRALIA
- Joe Barry, VB Dragon Imporex Traders, AUSTRALIA
- Tripp Lilley, USA
- Lee W. McKnight, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA
- Arthur W. Coleman, USA
- Richard Thomas, Winterfold Datacomm Ltd. UNITED KINGDOM
- Thomas Lowenhaupt, The Communisphere(R) Project, USA
- E. Lyn Young, USA
- Thomas Inskip, Ascend Communications, USA
- Alex Latzko, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, USA
- James R. Martin II, ZD Events, InteropNet, USA
- Srikanth Narra, Atlanta, USA
- Lee Wheat, USA
- Charles A F Senescall, Australian Public Access Network Association, AUSTRALIA
- Bharathan Kangatheran, AccessOz, AUSTRALIA,
- Mark Newton, Internode Systems, AUSTRALIA
- John B. Reynolds, USA
- Richard Bullington, Chief Technology Officer, The Microstate Corporation, USA
- Mark Perry, Faculty of Law, University of Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
- Ricardo Dominguez, Senior Editor, The Thing, USA
- Jason Vogel, Cardozo Law Review, USA
- Norbert Klein, Coordinator, Open Forum Information Exchange, CAMBODIA
- Michael M. Krieger, USA
- Einar Stefferud, Network Management Associates, USA
- Please send your name and affiliation if you wish to join this petition.
