Re: [gnso-vi-feb10] Re: Draft agenda for the VI WG call next week

["Neuman, Jeff" <Jeff.Neuman@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Milton,

Why are you tying the vertical integration issue with equal access.  They are 
actually not related concepts and need to be kept separate.  For example, if 
the motivation is to allow vertical integration to allow innovation, ICANN's 
economists have acknowledged on a number of occassions that the equal access 
requirement runs counter to the notion of innovation and competition at the 
registry level.  It may help competition at the registrar level but not the 
registry level.  That was the reason we could not support the drafting team's 
definitions.   We must analyze those subjects separately.

I look forward to this debate, however, once the team is fully formed after 
tomorrow.

Jeffrey J. Neuman, Esq.
Vice President, Law & Policy
NeuStar, Inc.
Jeff.Neuman@xxxxxxxxxxx



----- Original Message -----
From: owner-gnso-vi-feb10@xxxxxxxxx <owner-gnso-vi-feb10@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Richard Tindal <richardtindal@xxxxxx>; icann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
<icann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Gnso-vi-feb10@xxxxxxxxx <Gnso-vi-feb10@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sun Mar 21 17:34:59 2010
Subject: RE: [gnso-vi-feb10] Re: Draft agenda for the VI WG call next week


> -----Original Message-----
> The Nairobi Board resolution chose
> the 'fully restricted' option as the new baseline.  Unless the PDP
> recommends an approach the Board finds more suitable,  the DAG will
> presumably be changed to reflect zero co-ownership  (which would mean
> zero vertical integration).
> 
> Richard

Just a reminder that "co-ownership" (i.e., what normal people in regulatory 
economics call _cross-ownership_) is not the same thing as "vertical 
integration." A registry and registrar can be 100% owned by the same company, 
but if equivalent and nondiscriminatory access is required of the registry by 
ICANN contracts, and that separation is adequately enforced, they are not 
vertically integrated, they are merely jointly owned. 

I will insist on maintaining this distinction as we go forward. It is 
important.