ICANN: No government veto over controversial top-level domains

Less than two weeks away from the conference for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), representatives from the organization's Government Advisory Committee have rejected a US Department of Commerce proposal that would give GAC members veto power over new domain endings. The Department of Commerce plan would have allowed governments to object to a generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) "for any reason." On top of that, "if it is the consensus position of the GAC not to oppose objection[s] raised by a GAC member or members, ICANN shall reject the application," the proposal added. Critics like information studies Professor Milton Mueller of Syracuse University warned that the provision would let individual governments scrap gTLDs like .humanrights or .gay. But the GAC's scorecard on recommendations to ICANN proposes government "advice" rather than veto power over gTLDs.