ICANN should confine itself to technical matters

[John Chandler Meline <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Name: John Chandler Meline
Email: john@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: ICANN should confine itself to technical matters
Comments:
ICANN should not try to regulate morality on the Net.  The proposed policy for 
approving new gTLDs threatens to this! There is no global consensus on these 
cultural issues. Applying a one-size-fits-all policy to censor the global 
Internet should not be allowed to go forward. Also, trademark law doesn't match 
the way Internet domains are used, and the proposed policy would apply 
trademark law in ways that are completely unprecedented in any national law or 
international treaty.  This is completely inappropriate, and is likely to be 
illegal in many cases.

The proposed challenge process allows too much subjective uncertainty.  The 
process should be completely objective, transparent and well-defined 
application procedure.  It requires ICANN to judge cases for which it has no 
established institutional capacity. Where is the foundation for this?  We don't 
need another legal jurisdiction without any accountable political authority. 
The system already favors wealthier and more powerful gTLD applicants to hijack 
the application process, suppress competition and innovation, and generally 
establish more firmly entrenched gatekeeper power in the market for gTLDs.

These problems are too important to let the proposed policy be approved without 
fixing them. Please protect freedom of expression and innovation by removing 
non-technical and non-operational criteria from all ICANN policies.  Keep the 
Internet open and nondiscriminatory.  Keep the core neutral!