Code & Conduit Podcast: Holding ICANN Accountable

Critics of the U.S. government’s decision to give up
oversight of internet technical functions were worried that the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which manages the domain name
system, wouldn’t be accountable enough to domain applicants and the internet
community.

Lack of predictability has been the main concern with
ICANN’s domain application process, Flip Petillion, a partner at Crowell &
Moring LLP in Brussels and co-chair of the firm’s top-level domain
and domain name practice, told Bloomberg BNA in the latest episode of our Code
& Conduit podcast. Petillion said independent panels have rendered
conflicting decisions over whether domains such as .car and .cars are confusingly
similar.

“Although ICANN has reacted positively
in response to certain individual complaints regarding inconsistent
determinations on string confusion, it has failed to address the underlying
reason for the inconsistencies in the determinations and it has refused to
intervene in the majority of cases,” Petillion said.

Tune in to hear Petillion discuss the steps ICANN has taken since the oversight
transition to address these concerns and some of the remaining challenges.

You can read more of Alexis’
reporting on our tech, telecom and internet blog or on Bloomberg
Law.  If you liked what you heard in the
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