SAN FRANCISCO—As previously reported, the Government Advisory Committee (GAC) this morning has voiced its opposition of the .XXX TLD to the ICANN Board on numerous fronts.
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Below is the full text of the letter GAC Board Chair Heather Dryden send to ICANN chairman Peter Dengate Thrush that was presented at today’s meeting in San Francisco.
"Dear Peter,
In its communique of the Cartagena Meeting of December 2010, the GAC reiterated its previously stated position that the Wellington Communique represents consensus GAC advice and still applies. Therefore, the GAC would like to inform the board about the following key points of this advice.
* There is no active support of the GAC for rge introduction of a .XXX TLD.
* While there are members, which neither endorse nor oppose the introduction of a .XXX TLD, others are emphatically opposed to the introduction of a .XXX TLD.
Furthermore, the GAC would like to inform the ICANN Board that an introduction of a .XXX TLD into the root might lead to steps taken by some governments to prohibit access to this TLD. The GAC therefore calls the Board's attention to concerns expressed by experts that such steps bear a potential risk/threat to the universal resolvability and stability of the DNS.
Moreover:
* The GAC does not consider the information provided by the Board to have answered the GAC concerns as to whether the ICM application meets the sponsorship criteria.
* The GAC further shares concerns expressed by others that with the revised proposed ICANN-ICM Registry agreement, the Corporation could be moving towards assuming an ongoing management and oversight role regarding internet content, which could be inconsistent with its technical mandate.
The GAC looks forward to the Board clarifying the basis for its 10 December 2010 decision regarding .XXX. The GAC expects that this would include a response to the substantial objections received from the community, and reference to ICANN's role as a public benefit corporation."
The Board did not respond substantively to the letter during the meeting, but Board Chair Thrush said that the issue would be addressed tomorrow during the Board meeting. The consultation meeting then took a break before continuing with other business.
