The XXX drama isn't over.

Today ICM Registry announced that it would file a reconsideration request with ICANN and a judicial appeal to challenge redactions and omissions from the internal US government documents released to it under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. These could prove to be opening moves in a more extended round of litigation.

In connection with its judicial appeal, ICM Registry released 88 pages of internal US Commerce Department documents obtained under the FOIA showing how the U.S. handled its application. A summary and review of the documents is available on the IGP website here [PDF].

Even with the major redactions, the documents show how US supervision of ICANN was influenced by domestic political pressure. They leave no room for doubt that the US altered its policy toward ICANN in response to this pressure, and that it worked with ICANN to conceal the nature and significance of US governmental oversight of ICANN from the public and the media.

The documents themselves can be reviewed on the IGP web site at this
Link [PDF]

Written by Milton Mueller, Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies. Visit the blog maintained by Milton Mueller here.

See related topics: DNS, Internet Governance