Re: [Membership] Re: [IFWP] COMMENTS ON M.A.C. RECOMMENDATIONS of MARCH 18

[Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com>]

On Sun, Apr 11, 1999 at 01:27:00PM -0400, Jay Fenello wrote:
> 
> ICANN has *always* been about Internet Governance.

No, Jay.  ICANN has *never* been about Internet Governance.  There is
no source of authority that could give it such powers.

> Even while the White Paper and Ira Magaziner were
> talking about the "administrative management of
> coordinated technical functions for the Internet,"
> Larry Irving and Ira Magaziner were talking about 
> the establishment of Internet Governance!  (It 
> just depended on the audience ;-)

Yes, Ira said many things to many people.  And, as you note, it was 
all political rhetoric.

> ICANN is already taking far reaching positions on 
> Intellectual Property ownership and rights,

My my such hysteria.

The fact is that ICANN has taken a position on rights concerning TLD
databases.  A position on that issue is of course necessary, given
that ICANN has the explicit charge of managing the TLDs.  It has also
made some noises about dispute resolution, but as yet taken *no*
positions on it.  Of course, dispute resolution is a matter
*explicitly addressed* in the White paper, so ICANN must address the
issue at some point.

This is not "far reaching".  This is precisely following the 
direction of the White paper -- no more, no less.  In fact, ICANN is 
very carefully toeing that line.

>  and it's
> only a matter of time before they tackle issues like 
> spam, porn, etc.

That's merely histrionic inflamatory fantasy on your part.  They have
taken no positions on these subjects, nor any indication that they
even have an inclination to take positions on these subjects... 

-- 
Kent Crispin                               "Do good, and you'll be
kent@songbird.com                           lonesome." -- Mark Twain