[x-pubpol] Domain seizures for copyright infringement likely to go global

[Joly MacFie]

http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=B2318066-9100-36AE-6DA668DCC8BE64C8

o Rebecca Wanjiku
14.03.2012 kl 15:21 | Computerworld Kenya  .


Efforts to take down websites for copyright infringement are likely to
move beyond U.S.-based registries, with ICANN (the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) promising to more closely
cooperate with global law enforcement agencies and governments.

Cooperation to combat copyright infringement has been a hot topic this
week at ICANN's international meeting in San José, Costa Rica. There
are 22 registries and over 700 registrars accredited by ICANN.
Registries contain domain names registered in a top-level domain,
while registrars sell domains.

Any domain under a U.S. registry must follow U.S. laws regardless of
where the servers are, according to agreements currently in place. The
seizure of domains deemed to infringe on copyrights was first carried
out by Verisign, the operator of the registry for .net and .com.

During an open session with the Government Advisory Committee (GAC),
the ICANN board confirmed that it will enforce its contracts with
registrars more effectively in order to meet expectations from
governments and law enforcement authorities. The expectations were
contained in a 12- page document submitted by the GAC, which also
includes representatives from national law enforcement agencies as
well as Interpol.

"There has been some agreement on 11 of the 12 recommendations made by
law enforcement authorities to the registrar accreditation agreement;
we will work to ensure agreement meets expectations and give
registrars the incentive to accept recommendations right away," said
Kurt Pritz, ICANN senior vice president in charge of stakeholder
relations.

Representatives from governments, Interpol and the U.S. Federal Bureau
of Investigationsaid they felt that ICANN's failure to enforce its own
contractual agreements was damaging to Domain Name System users as
well as end users.

Some of the 12 recommendations relating to registrar agreements was
inclusion of a clause that holds registrars responsible through
negligence for registering domains engaging in criminal activity.
Another recommendation is for registrars to maintain detailed
information of domain buyers, including their source IP addresses and
transaction information, and validate the contact information given by
domain buyers.

Law enforcement officials have also urged ICANN to review registrars'
compliance record with enforcement agreements prior to renewing their
contracts.

"Complaints on compliance started coming in the last six to nine
months, a team of 12 is now in place and will improve the quality of
service," said Rod Beckstrom, ICANN CEO and president.

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Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com
 http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com
 VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - http://isoc-ny.org
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-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------
Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com
 http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com
 VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - http://isoc-ny.org
--------------------------------------------------------------
-