Intellectual Property Law

ICANN Wednesday

By Susan Crawford

After all the joy of last night and the emotion of this morning (Cairo time) watching such a wonderful speech, it is hard to re-focus on ICANN.

So let’s ease into it with a reflection on white spaces - here’s Harold Feld’s live-blogging of the FCC meeting yesterday.  News release here.  The big development is permission for unlicensed use of the white spaces, subject to a number of conditions (low power-levels, use of beacons and geolocation databases, protection of wireless mics).  The Commission will also explore *higher* power uses of the white spaces in rural areas, where there could be real opportunities to provide workable wireless high-speed internet access.

It’s exciting, and I wish I weren’t feeling upside-down and slightly queasy in a basement half a world away so that I could do proper justice to the news.

Which brings us to ICANN.  Today was a long series of meetings and workshops.  I was active in one at the end of the day about the release of single-letter second-level domains (x.coop, m.mobi).  To cut to the chase, I’d be interested in seeing much more standardized processes for registries who want to offer new services.  This has been an ongoing quagmire for ICANN.  We had quagmire 1 for the existing registries, and I’m hoping ICANN can avoid a quagmire 2 for the new ones.

But the big news today is, of course, the election at home.  I really wish I could have been there.  Sen. Obama’s speech was Lincolnesque, full of grave consciousness, and deeply felt.  We pin too many hopes on our Presidents-elect, we Americans, but it is good to feel hopeful.

Full post as published by Susan Crawford Blog on November 05, 2008 (boomark / email).