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Open Letter to ICANN Board: Answers Needed as Objections Mount

To date, representatives of many key constituencies have raised serious objections to ICANN’s planned expansion of the Domain Name System (DNS). Questions have been raised regarding potential conflicts of interest that now place a cloud over the independence of the Board’s decision to expand the DNS. Spokespersons for ICANN have failed to answer questions directly and instead continuously justify proceeding with the expansion based upon a process that has proven to be flawed. In an open letter to the ICANN board of directors, the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) is asking ICANN to answer critical questions and provide appropriate documents, by January 7, 2012, that more fully explain the reasons for the expansion.

The list of questions and requests for the ICANN board, as well as articles, letters and documents from congressional leaders, global organizations and major corporations opposing ICANN’s proposal can be found below.

  Document Title
Date
1. Questions and Requests for ICANN Board 12/21/2011
2. CRIDO Membership Roster
12/21/2011
3. CRIDO Petition to the United States Department of Commerce
11/10/2011
4. Daniel Jaffe testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Hearing on ICANN’s Expansion of Top Level Domains
12/8/2011
5. Daniel Jaffe testimony before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, House Energy and Commerce Committee, Hearing on ICANN’s Top-Level Domain Name Program
12/14/2011
6. Letter from the United States Federal Trade Commission to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
12/16/2011
7. Law Enforcement Due Diligence Recommendations for ICANN – Seoul
10/18/2010
8. Governmental Advisory Committee of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, GAC Communiqué – Dakar
10/27/2011
9. Open Letter from Intergovernmental Organizations on the Expansion of Generic Top Level Domains, Re: Protection Against the Misleading Use of the Names and Acronyms of International Governmental Organizations in the Domain Name System
12/14/2011
10. Statements of Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Hearing on ICANN’s Expansion of Top Level Domains; Statements of Representatives Greg Walden (R-OR), Ana Exchoo (D-CA), and Doris Matsui (D-CA), United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, House Energy and Commerce Committee, Hearing on ICANN’s Top-Level Domain Name Program
12/14/2011
11. Letter from Congressmen Bob Goodlatte, Chairman, Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet and Howard Berman, Ranking Member, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, to the United States Department of Commerce
12/16/2011
12. Angela F. Williams, General Counsel, YMCA, testimony before United States Senate Commerce Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Hearing on ICANN’s Expansion of Top Level Domains
12/8/2011
13. Anjali Hansen, Council of Better Business Bureaus, testimony before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, House Energy and Commerce Committee, Hearing on ICANN’s Top-Level Domain Name Program
12/14/2011
14. Letter from Screen Actors Guild to the United States Department of Commerce
11/14/2011
15. Letter from American Federation of Television and Radio Artists to the United States Department of Commerce
11/14/2011
16. Esther Dyson, testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Hearing on ICANN’s Expansion of Top Level Domains
12/8/2011
17. Esther Dyson Editorial, What’s in a Domain Name, Project Syndicate
8/25/2011
18. Tech Daily Dose, Former ICANN Chairs Voice Concern with Domain Name Plan, reporting on concerns of Esther Dyson and Vint Cerf
11/3/2011
19. Gary Elliot Editorial, ICANN’s promises aren’t simply speculation, they’re outright fantasy, Advertising Age
9/6/2011
20. Robert Liodice Editorial, How to (Unnecessarily) Encumber The Internet And The Economy, Forbes.com
9/30/2011
21.

Douglas Wood columns:

  • Corporate Counsel: On the Internet, Can Freedom To Too Far? – December 21, 2011
  • Porno and Madison Avenue, Strange Bedfellows – November 22, 201
  • The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Class of 2011: TLDs – September 29, 2011

22. Washington Post Editorial, What’s the .rush?
12/12/2011
23. San Francisco Chronicle Editorial, Why .xxx And Other New Top-Level Domains Are A Terrible Idea
12/13/2011
24. Letter from Robert E. Hall, Robert and Carole McNeil Joint Professor of Economics at Stanford University and Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, and Michael Flynn of AFE Consulting to the United States Department of Commerce
12/7/2011
25. European Commission paper, EC paper on ICANN: New gTLD process
8/31/2011
26. Letter from Sen. Ron Wyden to the Unites States Department of Commerce and the United States National Telecommunications and Information Administration
9/14/2011
27. Letter from the United States National Telecommunications and Information Administration to Sen. Ron Wyden
9/21/2011
28. Excerpt from the United States Department of Commerce Request for Proposals on the IANA Contract
11/10/2011
29. European Commission paper, EC paper on ICANN: Corporate governance”
8/31/2011
30. European Commission report, “Digital Agenda: Commission welcomes improvements in new IANA contract”
11/14/2011