YNOT – The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers will not declassify confidential information submitted by ICM Registry LLC in support of its application to administer dot-xxx, adult industry trade group Free Speech Coalition has learned.According to a response memorandum dated Oct. 7, information FSC sought via a Sept. 8 Documentary Information Disclosure Policy Request is subject to agreements that cannot be violated without prior approval of both parties. Since Florida-based ICM did not respond to ICANN’s inquiry within the 30 days mandated by the DIDP, the information will remain confidential.
In the DIDP request, FSC asked for ICM’s Proof of Sponsorship Community Support as submitted to ICANN with ICM’s application, ICM’s business plan and financial projections for years 1-5, and a list of dot-xxx sTLD pre-registrants who have been identified to ICANN.
In addition, the DIDP sought documentation regarding the International Foundation for Online Responsibility, the governing body proposed by ICM to set operating policy for all dot-xxx domains that become active websites. According to dot-xxx application documentation, IFFOR will be a not-for-profit agency governed by a board of directors composed of members of the adult entertainment community and mainstream technology and business experts. The organization will be funded by a percentage of each dot-xxx domain registration, and every dot-xxx domain registrant automatically will become a member of IFFOR. FSC wanted a list of IFFOR board members, a list of proposed members of IFFOR’s Policy Council and IFFOR’s business plan and financial statements.
FSC Executive Director Diane Duke said she and the FSC board of directors felt certain the documentation would indicate no “sponsoring community” consistent with ICANN guidelines exists, as the adult entertainment industry opposes dot-xxx. Accepting ICM’s contention that IFFOR members compose the sponsoring community is paradoxical, Duke said, because IFFOR members will not exist until after dot-xxx is approved.
Duke also said FSC was not surprised information the group feels could condemn the application remains under wraps.
“I was not surprised, but I wanted [the declination] on record,” she told YNOT. “I really never expected [ICM] to come clean. If ICANN now makes the decision [to approve dot-xxx], they make it with the entire world knowing the process is suspect.”
ICM President Stuart Lawley told YNOT his company did respond to ICANN’s inquiry, albeit after the deadline, but the response would not have changed the outcome.
“We were asked by ICANN whether we wished to authorize them to release any confidential documents as per the FSC’s request and, of course, we declined,” he said. “We wrote to ICANN on 12th October, by which time they had already issued their DIDP response. Financial statements and customer lists are naturally private and confidential.”
Duke said regardless any perceived inconsistencies or lack of transparency in the process, dot-xxx hardly is “a done deal.” She and FSC board chairman Jeffrey Douglas plan to attend ICANN’s next board meeting Dec. 5-10 in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, when the board is expected to vote on dot-xxx.
“I’m hoping the process will have some integrity,” she said, noting FSC is aware of at least three avenues for formal appeal if ICANN approves dot-xxx. “This is far from over.”
