New US President Donald Trump's order titled “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States” caused an outrage in the American society and all over the world. The order forbids entrance to the United States for all citizens of Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Somali and Sudan for 90 days; this action affected ICANN Corporation as well, reports Domain Incite. For example, chief information officer at RIPE NCC and a member of ICANN Board of Directors Kaveh Ranjbar couldn’t assist the Board’s meeting in Los Angeles this week. Ranjbar lives in Amsterdam, but was born in Iran and kept the citizenship of that country (he also holds a Dutch passport). He explained that he had to cancel his trip to the US out of fear of being deported or detained for uncertain period of time at the airport.
Non-Commercial Users Constituency chair Farzaneh Badiei ended up in an opposite situation. He was also born in Iran and at the moment lives in the US on an academic visa. Badiei announced that she wouldn’t be able to take part in upcoming important negotiations in Iceland and ICANN meeting in Copenhagen in March because she fears she won’t be allowed back in the States.
ICANN’s official representatives remain cautious for now, when commenting on Donald Trump’s order. They say they are “still trying to fully understand the potential impact of the President’s Executive Order on our community, Board and staff travelers.” Meanwhile, many other organizations have articulated their position much tougher. For example, Internet Society CEO Kathy Brown stated that she was “deeply troubled” by President’s order, which goes against “values that rest firmly on a commitment to an open, globally connected community dedicated to the open, global Internet”. The chairs of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC) and Internet Architecture Board (IAB) issued a joint statement, where they clearly indicated that they were considering the possibility of not conducting any events of the territory of United States.
One of the founders and managers at Internet Governance Project Milton Mueller has an uncompromising stance. “The United States can no longer be considered the leader, either politically or ideologically, of an open global Internet if its own society is mired in protective barriers”, writes Mueller in his blog. “What a stroke of good fortune that the prior administration succeeded in freeing ICANN from the U.S. government in its waning months.”
