The ICANNblog

ICANN has signed an Accountability Framework for the country code .GT Guatemala

I just noticed that ICANN has signed an Accountability Framework for the country code top level domain (ccTLD) manager for .GT Guatemala, with the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. I found a copy of the signed accountability framework at www.icann.org/cctlds/agreements.html. It’s interesting that an “informal” agreement has been in place with the University since 1992, so why sign up now?

Must be some money somewhere I suspect.

The Accountability Framework program provides a mechanism by which ccTLD managers can formalize their relationship with ICANN, as well as fund them a negotiated amount of money every year. The Accountability Framework document sets out the obligations of a ccTLD manager and the obligations of ICANN. It also covers dispute resolution and what happens during termination and more importantly the transfer of responsibility after such a termination event.

Oh how we all need recognition. The published agreement states that ICANN recognizes the University as the manager and sponsoring organization of the .GT ccTLD and is also the entity responsible for maintaining the .GT ccTLD as a stable(Guatemala?) and interoperable part of the global domain system, as well as consistent with Guatemalan law (www.loc.gov/law/guide/guatemala.html). Huh … anyone that’s ever been to Guatemala has to just wonder what that means.

Guatemala’s law provides insufficient protection for owners of well-known trademarks, since the right to exclusive use is granted to the first to file. This has permitted third parties to register and use (or prevent the genuine trademark holder from using) internationally-well-known trademarks. Sales of falsified name-brand clothing and other merchandise are common in Guatemala. Imagine what could happen in the Domain Name Space.

I suspect the most important part of the agreement is that, it mandates that the University acknowledges that ICANN is the entity responsible for maintaining and keeping the root of the internet DNS stable. Didn’t know that an organization like ICANN needed recognition from anyone since it’s got the out of control US government behind it.

But anyway, it’s good to see our friends in Central America finally carrying some weight around these parts.

For more information about the ICANN community, go to http://www.ICANNwiki.com

1 comment September 25th, 2006

DOC Wants to Improve ICANN’s Accountability and Transparency

The U.S. Commerce Department said on Wednesday the 21^st that it wants to extend its oversight of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the California organization that handles domain name policies, but sincerely wants to find ways to improve the group’s accountability and transparency.

John Kneuer, the department’s acting assistant secretary said the government’s current agreement with the ICANN is working and should continue, but I believe there are still some deep unspoken concerns.

It’s been announced that the US government plans to renew the agreement with ICANN, but it will likely want some new provisions designed to address complaints that the group is sometimes “too secret and makes decisions that don’t reflect the Internet community at large.”

I believe it would make great sense for the government to solicit input from the ICANN Community through tools like ICANNWIKI which we already have in place. That way John Kneuer and his government agency won’t be working in a vacuum like most other government sponsored agencies are known to do.

So as such, I have started a new page on ICANNWIKI just for John Kneuer and his team to use as a global collaboration tool. Its http://www.icannwiki.org/DOC_ICANN_Insight. Lets all contribute here so John can get even more informed.

This way our information hungry US Government will have no excuses about poor intelligence gathering before making important decisions like this one. Maybe the Bush administration could have used Web 2.0 tools like wikis before going into IRAQ!!

The current agreement with ICANN expires at the end of the month, so the US Government better get cracking if it wants any valid neutral input.

So step on it John and go to http://www.icannwiki.org/DOC_ICANN_Insight as soon as you can, and remember ICANN was selected in 1998 by the US Government to handle the Internet’s addressing issues, but still maintains full veto power over any and all ICANN decisions.

For more information about the ICANN community, go to http://www.ICANNwiki.com

Add comment September 21st, 2006