Almost Free: An Analysis of ICANN's 'Affirmation of Commitments'

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 188 I. THE AFFIRMATION OF COMMITMENTS IN CONTEXT ......... 190 A. A Short History of the ICANN–DOC Relationship ........ 190 B. Key Aspects of the Affirmation .......................................... 198 1. What’s There ................................................................ 198 a. DOC’s Promises ..................................................... 199 b. ICANN’s Promises ................................................ 200 2. What’s Not There ......................................................... 203 C. What the Affirmation Tells Us About ICANN’s Legal Status and About Its Future ............................................... 207 II. DOES THE DNS MATTER? ...................................................... 210 A. Economic and Market Power Over Domain-Name Service Providers ................................................................. 211 B. Regulatory Power Over Registrants and Other EndUsers ................................................................................... 214 C. Political Power Over Speech and Other Uses of the Internet ............................................................................... 215 D. The Myth of the DNS’s Geo-Strategic Power .................. 219 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................... 223 POSTSCRIPT ......................................................................................... 225 APPENDIX: TEXT OF AFFIRMATION OF COMMITMENTS ................ 228