Digital Rights + Internet Governance + Innovation Policy

NCUC Proposal to Reform Draft Policy on Introduction of New gTLDs

"Current proposal is unworkable due to competing standards of morality and competing public policy objectives. Current proposal usurps national sovereignty. ICANN is not a legislative body to be determining "appropriate" public policy objectives and global standards of morality. National legislatures determine what is lawful in their own jurisdictions. Current proposal places enormous burden and liability on ICANN for its decisions as to what is controversial and who is the worthy applicant for a particular string. ICANN will have to remain content-neutral to avoid legal liability. Freedom of expression can be better protected with NCUC's proposal since the restrictions are more narrowly tailored to meet national law...."

NCUC Comments on GNSO WhoIs Task Force Preliminary Report

The Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC) believes that ICANN policies governing the publication of Whois data must be reformed, and quickly. The Operational Point of Contact Proposal ("OPoC Proposal") presented in this Whois Task Force Report is not perfect, but it is the only way to bring some consensus and closure to a problem that has festered for too long. ....

NCUC’s Comments on New gTLD Draft Final Report: Report Deeply Flawed, Reform Needed

NCUC continues to strongly object to the principles and recommendations in the GNSO New TLD Committee’s Draft Final Report on the Introduction of New Generic Top-Level Domains (14 Nov. 2006). In particular, the proposed selection criteria for strings and dispute resolution processes over new gTLDs remain deeply problematic. The draft recommendations must be substantially reformed in order to promote competition and innovation and protect freedom of expression and non-commercial uses in the new gTLD space. The GNSO Committee’s draft proposal would have ICANN engage in massive and unprecedented censorship over the use words and ideas in cyberspace. The draft recommendations propose that ICANN mediate between competing standards of religion and morality to evaluate who is entitled to what words or ideas and how they may be used in new gTLDs. They essentially propose that ICANN be deputized the “word police” for the Internet.

Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) Comments on LSE Report on GNSO Reform

ICANN’s Non-Commercial User Constituency (NCUC) welcomes the London School of Economics (LSE) report on the GNSO and urges the Board to implement many, but not all, of its recommendations. ... The existing [GNSO] structure gives business, particularly entertainment companies or other intellectual property interests, too much power in GNSO policy making and an unfair advantage. Non-commercial interests should be given equal weight to commercial interests in GNSO policy making as a matter of principle. ...

NCUC Summary: Comments to ICANN from Commissioners & Organizations on WHOIS & Privacy

BACKGROUNDER BY NONCOMMERCIAL USERS CONSTITUENCY International Data Protection Laws: Comments to ICANN from Commissioners and Organizations Regarding WHOIS and the Protection of Privacy (Original .PDF) The Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC) feels that ICANN and the WHOIS TF must pay close attention to the authoritative formal written comments made by Data Protection Commissioners and their organizations. [...]

NCUC Contribution to IGF on ICANN Whois Privacy Issue

Contribution Memorandum: Privacy Implications of WHOIS Database Policy Submitted to the Secretariat of the Internet Governance Forum by the ICANN Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) For IGF Greece 2006, Athens, 30 October – 2 November, 2006 The Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) is the part of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that represents [...]

NCUC’s Table of National Laws and WHOIS Privacy (.xls)

A comparative analysis of national laws and how they relate to privacy and ICANN's WhoIs policy. Nations analyzed include the United States, France, Australia, Japan, China, Spain, Israel, Italy, India, Jordan, Kuwait, Poland, and Barbados. NCUC's Table of National Laws and WHOIS Privacy. (.XLS)

NCUC Statement on ICANN’s Introduction of New gTLDs

NONCOMMERCIAL CONSTITUENCY COMMENTS SUBMITTED TO THE GNSO IN RESPONSE TO THE CALL FOR COMMENTS ON THE TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR NEW gTLDs January 31, 2006 The Noncommercial Users Constituency has duly considered the questions and issues raised by the GNSO in this proceeding, and we respectfully submit our comments below. However, before addressing the specific [...]

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