ICANN's deadline to receive comments has expired on an issue that could theoretically give the corporation authority to regulate Internet content. Last December, ICANN tabled the possibility of including a new generic top-level domain addendum called Registry Voluntary Commitments (RVC) in its Phase 2 registry contract. This addition includes, among other things, the registry's obligation to block certain types of content on domains under its control.
Since the RVC is supposed to be included in the contract with ICANN, the corporation itself thus indirectly becomes a participant in the process of regulating Internet content. However, this is in direct contravention of ICANN regulations. The Board and lawyers insisted on the development of an independent control mechanism: it is assumed that the provisions of the RVC can be activated only after the need for these actions is approved by a third-party, independent audit.
However, even in this form, the proposal did not receive widespread support from the domain community. As expected, representatives of business and copyright holders, as well as the At-Large Advisory Committee, spoke in favor of it. On the other hand, representatives of registrar companies and non-profit organizations were against it. The latter even explicitly stated that they would be ready to go to court if ICANN violates its own rules and takes on content regulation functions in one form or another.
The last to speak was the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), whose voice has perhaps the greatest weight among all the organizations and committees of the corporation. According to the Domain Incite, its representatives emphasized that changes to ICANN rules and the inclusion of RVC in contracts with registries are possible only with the approval of all representatives of the domain community. But at the moment it is obvious that there is not only no consensus on this issue, but also any real prospects for achieving it.
