According to the coalition, the three-page document supports option No. 3 of the March 26, 2010 process options submitted by ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom and General Counsel John Jeffrey, which calls for further consideration of ICM's application to offer the .XXX sTLD.
In its comments, FSC agrees with the dissenting opinion of ICANN's Independent Review Panel (IRP) in that ICM "never satisfied the sponsorship requirements and criteria for a sponsored TLD." FSC also supports the opinion that "the (ICANN) Board denied ICM's application for the .XXX sTLD on the merits in an open and transparent forum."
The FSC remarks include information on how .XXX's lack of support from the sponsorship community was documented at the 2007 ICANN Board meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, and how the Board was not only well within its rights to deny ICM's request, but also obligated to do so by Section 2 of its own Bylaws.
"We have studied the issue thoroughly," said FSC Executive Director Diane Duke, "and it is clear to us that the best option is Option No. 3; to accept the dissenting opinion from the February 19, 2010 Declaration of the Internal Review Panel and deny ICM's application."
FSC stressed that regardless of the option chosen, ICANN should continue to consider the widespread opposition of the sponsored community in any further decisions concerning the .XXX sTLD.
FSC has also issued a Call-to-Action for the adult industry, encouraging industry members to submit their own comment to ICANN.
"It is critical that everyone in the industry not only submit a comment," Duke emphasized, "but also answer the question that ICANN is asking — which option should ICANN select in moving forward in the consideration process."
Duke says that FSC has made the process of submitting a comment exceedingly easy and that the whole process should take less than a minute. She added that the FSC's Call-to-Action process and ICANN comment are available at www.freespeechcoalition.com.