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Here's the The Lowdown
from DN Journal,
updated daily
to
fill you in on the latest buzz going around the domain name industry.
The Lowdown is
compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher Ron
Jackson. |
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ICANN
Drops a Bomb - New TLD Point Man Kurt
Pritz Resigns Due to "Conflict of
Interest"
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ICANN
CEO Fadi Chehade
sent
shock waves through the domain community
(especially the segment of it involved in the
planned rollout of hundreds of new gTLDs
next year) when he announced the resignation of ICANN's
Chief Strategy Office, Kurt Pritz, today (DomainIncite's
Kevin Murphy, who covers ICANN closely, was
the first to spot the
letter breaking the news that Fehade
posted on the ICANN website). Fehade
said that Pritz, who has played the lead role
in
ICANN's controversial new gTLD program, "submitted
his resignation because of a recently identified
conflict of interest."
Unfortunately, Fehade did not disclose
what that conflict entailed, an omission that is
drawing a demand for more information
from those who have already invested hundreds
of millions of dollars in new gTLD
preparations and applications.
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Kurt
Pritz
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Michael
Berkens |
Michael
Berkens, who runs the popular TheDomains.com
blog and is also co-founder of a new
gTLD consulting company, RightOfTheDot.com,
issued a call for ICANN to "Come
Clean" on the Pritz
resignation in a blog post today. Given
the possibility that Pritz's
conflict may be related to the new gTLD
program - one that involves many competing
interests who are counting on a level
playing field - Berkens said, "This
is not acceptable...In his first
address at ICANN as CEO in Toronto Mr.
Chehade spoke of transparency
time and time again. Now it the perfect
time to for ICANN to do the right
thing and tell those applicants who
just gave ICANN over $350 million
to apply for a new gTLD, many of
whom have spent years of their
life on the program what exactly the
conflict of interest is, when it was
detected, why it wasn’t detected
earlier." |
So
far, Mr. Pritz, who was a widely respected
figure at ICANN, has been unavailable for
comment and Mr. Cheade's only comment on the
matter was the brief note he posted today:
To
the ICANN
Community,
Regretfully,
I have accepted the resignation of Kurt
Pritz, who has served most recently as ICANN’s
Chief Strategy Officer.
Kurt
has submitted his resignation because of a
recently identified conflict of interest,
which he immediately communicated to ICANN.
After analyzing this conflict of interest,
we decided that a change in Kurt’s role
within ICANN
would be appropriate. Kurt decided to
resign his position and role as an officer
of ICANN,
to best serve the interests of the
organization. Kurt will be engaged as a
subject matter expert where needed, but
will have no access to new gTLD
applicant information nor will he play a
role in the new gTLD
program.
I
have already put in place a plan for the
reassignment of all of Kurt’s management
responsibilities.
I
would like to thank Kurt for his many
years of service and commitment to ICANN
and our community.
Respectfully,
Fadi
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With
the amount of money that has been poured
into the new gTLD program by so many
different entities, it is obvious that
this issue will remain a hot topic
until those with a stake in the process
get the answers they need to
alleviate their concerns.
Pritz
had been with ICANN since September
2003. Prior to joining domain
name system's oversight body,
Pritz spent nearly a decade at Walt
Disney Imagineering where, as
Vice President, Engineering &
Production, he was responsible for the
technical design and delivery of theme
park shows and rides worldwide. |
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(Posted November
15, 2012)
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