Internet Commerce Association Legal Counsel Phil Corwin has been working overtime lately. Last night he filed a letter on behalf of the ICA with the U.S. Department of Commerce, urging the DOC to Extend and Revise its Joint Project Agreement with ICANN that expires Sept. 30. ICANN, eager to escape U.S. government oversight, does not want to renew the agreement, but Corwin  makes a compelling case for the DOC to block ICANN's rush for the exit. 

The letter expresses ICA’s continued support for the principles underlying ICANN’s creation as well as for its eventual full transition to an independent, private sector-led technical coordinator of the domain name system (DNS). However, Corwin wrote, "when measured against the concerns articulated by ICA in its February 2008 submission to DOC’s Midterm Review of ICANN’s performance, adequate  

ICA Legal Counsel Phil Corwin

progress has not been made to justify termination of DOC’s “light touch” relationship with ICANN - nor have adequate steps been taken to assure that ICANN will not be “captured”, politicized, and transformed into an unaccountable Internet regulator following the termination of the JPA." 

Given the way ICANN has routinely ignored input from the Internet community when making decisions (even when that sentiment is virtually unanimously opposed to ICANN proposals) I  thought they were already an unaccountable regulator - but I digress.

Corwin goes on to explain, point by point, the areas where ICANN has been lacking, as well as those where they have made progress. I urge you read the letter in its entirety. The legal and regulatory environment is shifting under domain owner's feet and if situations like this are not closely monitored many are likely to find themselves put out of business by their own indifference.