The board members will discuss whether more consultation and clarification is needed from the Government Advisory Committee on ICM's application.
The letter raised four points to the ICANN Board, giving a timeline for statements issued by GAC. The statements point out GAC’s concerns over approval of the proposed .XXX sTLD and state several GAC members’ opposition to approval.
“Despite our confidence that the directors are aware of the necessity of consultation with the Government Advisory Committee, we feel obligated to emphasize the following matters pertaining to GAC and the sTLD application of ICM Registry,” FSC’s Executive Director Diane Duke said in the letter.
- The last formal statement from GAC on the topic was at its March 28, 2007, Lisbon communique that states, “The GAC reaffirms the letter sent to the ICANN Board on Feb. 2, 2007. The Wellington Communique remains a valid and important expression of the GAC’s view on .XXX. The GAC does not consider the information provided by the board to have answered the GAC concerns as to whether the ICM application meets the sponsorship criteria.
- In the Wellington communique of March 26, 2006 the GAC identified a number of concerns about the application and the concept as a whole, ending its comment on the subject with the statement, “Nevertheless without prejudice to the above, several members of GAC are empathetically opposed from a public policy perspective to the introduction of a .XXX sTLD.”
- During the GAC meeting in Brussels, in informal conversation among its members, there was general consensus that its concerns had still not been addressed and its prior communiqué objections stand.
- Just as the board has given deference to the decision of the IRP, so must it give deference to the GAC advice.
In the interest of equality and transparency, FSC “highly encourages the ICANN board to seek consultation from ICANN’s Government Advisory Committee," Duke said.
"Following ICANN's decision in June to proceed with .XXX, we have been busy building our team, so that we can ensure we deliver and market .XXX with the degree of professionalism it deserves," ICM Registry's Stuart Lawley told XBIZ.
Lawley said his team is finalizing plans for the Q1 2011 industry launch phase, which it hopes to share with the industry in the New Year, once the final contract documents have been signed with ICANN.
"To that end we have appointed the global communications agency M&C Saatchi that is working with us to create powerful marketing campaigns that will resonate with consumers, the adult entertainment industry and other stakeholders alike."
He said launch plans will include full Rights Protection Mechanisms to help industry members secure their brands, marks and names within .XXX before the names become more generally available.
"Our pre-reservation service now has more than 184,000 such requests," Lawley said.