CDT POLICY POST Volume 5, Number 25 October 25, 1999 A BRIEFING ON PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES AFFECTING CIVIL LIBERTIES ONLINE from THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY CONTENTS: (1) ICANN To Hold Public Meeting November 1-4 in Los Angeles (2) CDT Will Co-Sponsor DNS Public Interest Workshop on October 31st (3) "Cybersquatting" Bills Move Forward in Congress (4) Update Administration _______________________________________________________________________ (1) ICANN To Hold Public Meeting November 1-4 in Los Angeles The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the non- profit international organization responsible for domain names management, will hold its only North American meeting for this year in Los Angeles from November 1-4. This meeting is an opportunity for the Internet community to debate current issues in domain names policy. Several pressing issues for the public interest community will be on the ICANN agenda including: * Proposal for At-Large Membership: http://www.icann.org/adhoc-charter-draft-19oct99.htm Guidelines and procedures for electing 9 "At-Large" Directors on the ICANN Board. The "At-Large" election, to be held at a later date, should ideally be an opportunity for all Internet users to have a choice in domain name governance. Controversial provisions setting the details of the election process will be considered by the board at the LA meeting. * Proposal for Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP): http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm At ICANN's August meeting in Santiago, the ICANN board adopted a uniform dispute resolution policy for trademark disputes in domain name registration. The trademark community and non-commercial representatives had substantial comments on the UDRP, available at http://www.icann.org/ comments-mail/comment-udrp/current/maillist.html. The ICANN staff have prepared recommendations, now under public review, on how to implement this policy that will be discussed at the LA meeting. Registration information for the ICANN meeting, detailed schedule and full agenda available at http://www.icann.org/losangeles99/losangeles-details.htm _______________________________________________________________________ (2) CDT Will Co-Sponsor DNS Public Interest Workshop on October 31st As a prelude to ICANN's public meeting in Los Angeles, CDT will be co- sponsoring a public interest workshop on domain names issues with Harvard's Berkman Center, the Markle Foundation, and Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. The workshop will gather Internet leaders from the non-profit, technical, international, industry, legal and academic communities to exchange ideas on the larger domain names policy debate. CDT Staff Counsel Alan Davidson will lead a public session on "Emerging Privacy Issues," including privacy protections and the "Whois" database of domain name holders. Other items for discussion include top level domain (TLD) competition, openness and transparency, and membership at-large. The workshop will be held on Sunday, October 31st, from 9am-5pm, at the Sheraton Airport Hotel in Los Angeles. Information on registration and detailed agenda for the workshop available at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/icann/workshops/la/ Background information on domain names policy available at http://www.cdt.org/dns/ _______________________________________________________________________ (3) "Cybersquatting" Bills Move Forward in Congress The Trademark Cyberpiracy Prevention Act, HR 3028, was recently reported favorably by the House Judiciary Committee and has been moving quickly through the House. Leading scholars, along with the Clinton Administration, have expressed concern that the bill infringes on the rights of individuals, small businesses, and noncommercial organizations. Among other concerns, opponents fear that the bill asserts broad US jurisdiction over domain name trademark disputes, and includes a definition of "cybersquatting" that could chill speech online. A companion bill in the Senate, the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (S. 1255), has been passed the Senate. Another cybersquatting bill, S. 1461, has also been introduced in the Senate. More detailed information on domain names legislation available at http://www.cdt.org/legislation/106th/dns/ _______________________________________________________________________ (4) UPDATE ADMINISTRATION To subscribe to CDT's Policy Post list, send mail to majordomo@cdt.org In the BODY of the message type "subscribe policy-posts" without the quotes. To unsubscribe from CDT's Policy Post list, send mail to majordomo@cdt.org In the BODY of the message type "unsubscribe policy-posts" without the quotes. 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_5.25.shtml. Excerpts may be re-posted with prior permission of ari@cdt.org Policy Post 5.25 Copyright 1999 Center for Democracy and Technology