Press Roundtable on ICANN Issues

National Press Club
529 14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20045
(202) 662-7500
July 23, 1999, 9:30 to 11:30 am
Sponsored by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

View the online version of the briefing book

Listen to the archive of the event (requires free RealAudio player)

In light of recent press and Congressional hearings about the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and the Electronic Frontier Foundation thought it might be useful to hold a press roundtable covering the background and history of the ongoing controversy over the Domain Name System and ICANN's future. Our goal is to review the important developments currently taking place on the ICANN policy-making agenda, with special emphasis placed on civil liberties, intellectual property, the public interest, and internet governance generally.

While the briefing is primarily for credentialed press, it is open to interested public observers.

Agenda

• What is ICANN, and where is ICANN now?
• Why should we care?
  • Trademark issues
    
  • Network Solutions and Generic Top Level Domains
  • The Domain Name "Tax"
    
  • Privacy Issues
    
• What is likely to happen next?
  

Speakers

Tara Lemmey. President, Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Molly Shaffer Van Houweling. Senior Advisor and Corporate Secretary, ICANN (November 1998-June 1999). Berkman Center Fellow (June 1998-June 1999). Current clerk to Judge Michael Boudin, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Tamar Frankel. Professor of Law, Boston University Law School, specializing in corporate structures; Faculty, Berkman Center. Chair of Reston and Geneva IFWP meetings, June - July 1998.

Diane Cabell is a Research Fellow at the Berkman Center. She recently served on the ICANN Membership Advisory Committee which developed recommendations for the structure of at-large membership which will elect half of ICANN's Board of Directors. She continues to provide special research support on membership implementation. Last year, Ms. Cabell studied European Union privacy regulations as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oslo Faculty of Law. Former intellectual property counsel at MIT, she now practices with the Boston firm of Fausett, Gaeta & Lund.

Shari Steele, Director of Legal Services, Electronic Frontier Foundation. Commented and testified before the U.S. Commerce Department and WIPO on civil liberties implications of domain name policy. Presenter at U.S. Internet Council's Infosphere event on the cultural impact of domain names. Participated at CATO Institute's roundtable on ICANN.

Andrew Shapiro, Markle Foundation.

Ben Edelman. Student, Harvard College; affiliate, Berkman Center. Scribe, Working Groups on "A Profile of the Future Entity" and "Domain Names and Trademarks" at IFWP-Geneva, July 1998; coordinator of meeting technology for ICANN Open Meetings, Cambridge (November 1998), Singapore (March 1999), Berlin (May 1999), and Santiago (August 1999).

Jonathan Zittrain, moderator. Executive Director, Berkman Center for Internet and Society and lecturer at Harvard Law School. Moderated "Domain Names and Trademarks" working group at IFWP-Geneva, July 1998; headed the Representation in Cyberspace Study and served as liaison to ICANN Membership Advisory Committee, January - May 1998.