[huridocs-tech] CDT calls for accountability in domain names management

CDT POLICY POST Volume 9, Number 17, August 1, 2003

A Briefing On Public Policy Issues Affecting Civil Liberties Online
from
The Center For Democracy and Technology

(1) CDT Calls For Accountability in Domain Names Management
(2) ICANN's Private-Sector Structure Remains the Right Approach
(3) CDT Proposes Metrics to Evaluate ICANN
(4) Whois Privacy a Critical Upcoming Issue for ICANN

______________________________

(1) CDT Calls For Accountability in Domain Names Management

In testimony before a Senate Subcommittee July 31, CDT highlighted substantial
accountability and legitimacy questions at the Internet's manager of important
technical functions, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN), calling for better progress by ICANN at meeting public interest 
goals.

Since 1998, ICANN has coordinated critical Internet systems like the Domain
Name System (the system of names like 'cdt.org'), IP address hierarchy
(computer addresses), and other globally-important functions. These systems
have great importance worldwide, making ICANN's activities the subject of
global interest. Throughout that time, ICANN has been the subject of much
controversy regarding its structure and processes; CDT, along with many
other observers of ICANN, believes that it must strive to reflect the
interests of Internet users in its activities.

CDT believes that ICANN has the right basic approach to Internet management.
But because the systems ICANN oversees are crucial to the Internet's proper
functioning, ICANN must prove itself accountable, representative of the
broad Internet community, and limited in its authority. While ICANN has
made some progress in these areas, improvement is needed. In order to
promote progress, CDT believes that the U.S. government's primary agreement
with ICANN, the Memorandum of Understanding, be renewed in September for a
term of no longer than one year.

The Subcommittee Chairman, Conrad Burns (R-MT), echoed CDT's call for better
accountability at ICANN and promised continued Congressional oversight of
ICANN as it continues to grow.

The testimony of Alan Davidson, CDT's Associate Director, is available at
http://www.cdt.org/testimony/030731davidson.pdf [pdf]

______________________________

(2) ICANN's Private-Sector Structure Remains the Right Approach

CDT strongly believes that the original ICANN vision of private-sector
management is still the best approach for managing the Internet's key
functions. Key features of this vision include:

* Non-governmental -- Private sector bodies may more nimbly address fast-
   paced, complex Internet technical decisions, and may better reflect the
   diversity of user interests.
* Bottom-up and consensus oriented -- Decisions made in the best traditions
   of Internet bottom-up processes can account for broad interests and
   encourage compromise
* Narrowly focused -- A focused mission creates trust that ICANN would not
   exercise undue power and increases comfort in its non-governmental
   character
* Globally representative -- Helps ensure both public accountability and to
   include the interests of stakeholders affected by its decisions.

ICANN has made some progress in realizing this vision, but there is a
significant distance still to go. Serious questions exist about ICANN's
accountability, the lack of constraints on its authority, low participation
and representation by key groups, and too-frequent departures from
"bottom-up" decision making.

Unless ICANN can do better at realizing these pieces of its vision, it risks
grave consequences. Powerful entities such as foreign governments, the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and even the United Nations
are beginning to discuss possible alternatives to ICANN. Such alternatives
would likely include a vastly expanded role for governments, creating a
costly and user-unfriendly environment that would poorly serve the interests
of Internet users.

______________________________

(3) CDT Proposes Metrics to Evaluate ICANN

With so many challenges facing ICANN, objective assessment of its overall
progress has been difficult. To date, there is no widely agreed upon set
of benchmarks for measuring how ICANN is doing -- and it is unclear how
ICANN itself measures success.

To assist those seeking to understand ICANN's progress, CDT has released
a new study, "Assessing ICANN: Towards Civil Society Metrics for Measuring
ICANN," in which we review the literature that has been published surrounding
ICANN and identify key recurring themes and goals. Drawing from those
recurring themes, CDT has suggested ten "civil society metrics" for assessing
ICANN from a public interest perspective:

1. Stable and secure coordination of key Internet functions.
2. Adherence to clearly defined scope of activities.
3. Accountability to affected stakeholders, including effective independent
    review procedures.
4. Transparency, including procedural and financial transparency.
5. Representation of key Interest groups, including the public's interests.
6. Acceptance by key stakeholders, ccTLDs, Regional Internet Registries, etc.
7. Minimized impact on user rights, such as privacy and free speech;
    consideration of impact on Less Developed Countries, etc.
8. Support for competition and, when possible, reliance on market mechanisms.
9. Increased security of the root server system.
10. Support for long-term evolution and innovation in information and
     computing technologies.

CDT believes that a set of commonly agreed metrics is critical to evaluating
ICANN's strengths and shortcomings. Our hope is that other groups will use
this list, or create their own, to develop a multi-sectoral approach to
assessing ICANN. With a comprehensive framework for evaluating ICANN in
place, discussions of ICANN's strengths and shortcomings will be facilitated
and progress more achievable.

"Assessing ICANN: Towards Civil Society Metrics for Measuring ICANN" is
available at http://www.cdt.org/dns/icann/030731assessingicann.pdf [pdf]

______________________________

(4) Whois Privacy a Critical Upcoming Issue for ICANN

The Whois database -- a public listing of contact information for millions
of domain name registrants -- has long raised significant privacy concerns.
In the next year, ICANN is expected to consider reforms to Whois; its
approach in dealing with this issue will be an important indicator of the
state of accountability and representation at ICANN.

Currently, the registrant of a domain name in the public gTLDs and many
ccTLDs must make certain technical and administrative contact information
available in the "Whois" database accessible to the public online.
Originally designed to allow contact in the case of a technical problem,
the database is now also used by law enforcement, consumer protection
agencies, and private groups including intellectual property holders.

When individual Internet users register domain names, Whois may require
that they make their names, home addresses, home phone numbers, and home
e-mail addresses publicly available to the world. Such potentially
sensitive personal information, released publicly, can be used for
unrelated purposes ranging from unwelcome marketing to identity theft,
fraud, stalking, or other criminal activities. This exposure violates
worldwide privacy norms and has put Whois on a collision course with
national privacy laws, particularly in Europe, where is appears to
violate the law of some countries.

A move is underway at ICANN to reform Whois in ways that will address
individuals' privacy concerns while maintaining legitimate uses for the
data. Proposals include the creation of a "tiered access" system for
viewing Whois data, providing notice to users when their data is viewed,
and creating "audit trails" that could expose abuse or misuse of the
database. CDT believes a balance can be struck that protects privacy and
allows reasonable access to data for important public purposes. ICANN's
ability to incorporate the privacy interests of the global user community
in this debate will be closely watched.

______________________________

Detailed information about online civil liberties issues may be found at
http://www.cdt.org/ .

This document may be redistributed freely in full or linked to
http://www.cdt.org/publications/pp_9.17.shtml .

Excerpts may be re-posted with prior permission of ari@cdt.org

Policy Post 9.17 Copyright 2003 Center for Democracy and Technology
--
Michael Clark, Grassroots Webmaster
mclark@cdt.org
PGP Key available on keyservers

Center for Democracy and Technology
1634 Eye Street NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
http://www.cdt.org/
voice: 202-637-9800
fax: 202-637-0968


========== HURIDOCS-Tech listserv ==========
Send mail intended for the list to <huridocs-tech@hrea.org>.
Archives of the list can be found at:
http://www.hrea.org/lists/huridocs-tech/markup/maillist.php
To subscribe to the list, send a message to <majordomo@hrea.org>,
with the following text in the message: subscribe huridocs-tech
To unsubscribe from the list, send a message to <majordomo@hrea.org>,
with the following text in the message: unsubscribe huridocs-tech
If you have problems (un)subscribing, contact <owner-huridocs-tech@hrea.org>.