ICANN officials may be forgiven if they disagree, but this bill strikes me as hilarious. Like strong acid, it strips away the thin veneer of independence from the U.S. government that ICANN has carefully laid down. Would anyone think that, say, Lithuania's legislature could pass a similar law (.we're-not-latvia) and expect it to be followed? Obviously not. But the U.S. claims it has that power, and it probably does. So much for ICANN's governmental advisory bodies, its bureacratic fiefdoms, and its penchant for holding meetings in out-of-the-way locations. Might as well just meet here in DC from now on -- under the watchful eyes of their overlords in Congress. ICANN, you're becoming just another regulated federal agency. Get used to it. See also: http://www.icannwatch.org/article.php?sid=225&mode=thread&order=0 And: "IETF Internet Draft: Why .xxx domain is a very bad idea" http://www.politechbot.com/p-01772.html -Declan ******** BILL WOULD REQUIRE ICANN TO CREATE .KIDS DOMAIN On June 28, Reps. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) introduced legislation that could compel ICANN, via the U.S. Department of Commerce, to add the .kids top-level domain. Although the legislation might hamper ICANN's current process for selecting new TLDs, the organization has not responded sufficiently to user needs, said Markey aide Colin Crowell. "They have been so unresponsive to the general public interest that this is where it inevitably goes," said Crowell. The legislation would keep the Commerce Department from approving any more TLDs until ICANN creates a domain for children. The legislation includes rules that the .kids domain operators would have to adhere to in order to ensure that content on the domain is appropriate for children. (Newsbytes, 29 June 2001) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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