Public Comment is a vital part of our multistakeholder model. It provides a mechanism for stakeholders to have their opinions and recommendations formally and publicly documented. It is an opportunity for the ICANN community to effect change and improve policies and operations.
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Hello,
I've recently heard about this change to the agreement between Verisign and ICANN. I don't know a whole lot about how all this works, but from what I've read in Section 2.7 of Appendix 8 (pages 147-148), it sounds like you're giving broad authority to governments across the world to strip any domain name they choose from its owner with no recourse. Allow me to give you a hypothetical.
Say the city government of London, Ontario, Canada decides that it wants the domain name London.com, which currently belongs to the city of London, England, capital of the UK. Under these new proposed rules (assuming they expand from .net to Verisign's other big property .com as well), the government of London, Ontario could simply put in a request with Verisign to seize the domain. If Verisign complies, then London, England is suddenly without its main public-facing domain. Under the proposed rules, the UK would then find significant difficulty getting Verisign to return the domain to them... unless, of course, they filed a similar request with Verisign, being a government themselves.
This particular hypothetical is ludicrous, but it demonstrates how the modifications to the language of this section could be abused by bad actors. The definition of "government" here is vague and it could theoretically allow any government to seize any domain. If put into place, no .net domain would be safe from potential censorship and seizure from a government entity.
Please do not implement this new .net agreement. Remove this harmful language from the document and if necessary just renew the previous agreement instead. If not, at least allow all stakeholders to comment by extending the public comment period until after the upcoming public meeting.
The proposed changes regarding government seizure of .NET domains to this agreement, listed in Section 2.7 of Appendix 8 (pages 147-148), would allow governments to seize any .NET domain they choose. If they're included in the final agreement, it will open the door to malicious attacks from nations engaging in conflict.
Please do not include the changes to Section 2.7 of Appendix 8 (pages 147-148) in any new agreements and extend the public comment period to ensure that all stakeholders may have time to make their voices heard.