[Advisors] FW: [governance] Domain name seizures and .CA

[michael gurstein]

-----Original Message-----
From: governance-request@lists.igcaucus.org
[mailto:governance-request@lists.igcaucus.org] On Behalf Of Robert =
Guerra
Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2012 9:37 AM
To: governance@lists.igcaucus.org
Subject: [governance] Domain name seizures and .CA

Thought the following blog post by Byron Holland, the CEO of CIRA might =
be
of interest to the list...

http://blog.cira.ca/2012/03/domain-name-seizures-and-ca/

Domain name seizures and .CA

Posted by: Byron Holland


Domain name seizures have been top-of-mind for many people lately.

It was one of the topics identified at the Canadian Internet Forum, and =
the
high profile seizure by the U.S. government of the Canadian online =
gambling
site bodog.com has been getting a lot ofmedia attention. This also isn't =
the
first time the U.S. government has seized domain names based on =
'illegal'
activity. In 2010, a number of .COM, .NET and .ORG domains were seized, =
and
a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) operated by VeriSign in =
California,
.TV, wasseized as well. In 2011, another 150 were seized. For the most =
part,
the Internet does not recognize national borders. Internet traffic is =
routed
all over the globe, and it's possible to register a domain using a wide
variety of domain name extensions.

Here's the thing - the stuff to the right of the dot matters: note that
bodog.ca still resolves. If you register a domain name with an extension
that is managed in another country, it is likely subject to the laws of =
that
country - full stop. If a website is found to be in violation of =
American
law, and the domain for that site is an extension managed by a U.S. =
entity,
the U.S. government may seize it. If you keep your business in another
country (in the case of Canada, register a .CA with a Canadian Registrar =
and
use a Canadian web host), foreign governments can't unilaterally seize =
it.
CIRA has never been asked by a foreign government to shut down or seize =
a
domain name.

The DNS root zone does fall under American jurisdiction with ICANN =
(through
IANA) as the operator. However, ICANN has explicitly stated in a blog =
post
that they do "not take down domain names" and that they "have no =
technical
or legal authority to do that."

The fact is ICANN couldn't cherry-pick domains even if it wanted to. If =
the
U.S. government decided that they wanted to shut down a .CA website, and
tried to do it through ICANN, they would have to shut down all of .CA in =
the
root zone. This would involve cutting off every single .CA website and =
email
address from the Internet, and they're not going to do that for a number =
of
reasons (not the least of which is the fact that shutting down the =
entire
.CA domain space and everything in it would be a major international
incident).

The global economy would freeze if the U.S. government took such an =
action.
The underpinnings of the Internet would be completely undermined. Think
about this: the U.S. government hasn't even shut down the Internet in
nations they've been at war or have very strained relations with - Iraq,
Libya, Iran are just a few examples - because the trust that supports =
the
Internet is fundamental to the economic and social well-being of =
humanity.
Given that, why would they shut down an entire top level domain over a
single website?

The Internet has brought us incredible benefits, many due to the fact =
that
it breaks down national and geographic borders.  However, because of the
very nature of the Internet - the fact that it is 'virtual' and 'in the
cloud' - most of us don't tend to think of it being governed by the laws =
of
a particular nation. But as the bodog.com case demonstrates, it is
critically important to be aware of which jurisdiction your digital =
assets
are in, and therefore what laws they may be subject to.