Archive for the ‘peter dengate-thrush’ Category
Conflict of interest, whether real or imagined, looks bad for ICANN as it faces fresh criticism over its new TLD plans.
ICANN has a problem.
As criticism mounts against its approval of the new top level domain name program, some groups are pointing fingers at an inherent conflict of interest.
The key example is former ICANN Chairman of the Board Peter Dengate Thrush.
One month after pushing through a vote on the new TLD program in his last meeting as Chairman he took a role with publicly-traded Top Level Domain Holdings, a company focused solely on profiting from new top level domain names.
There are no rules prohibiting this move, as Dengate Thrush pointed out when I interviewed him about the new role.
I can’t blame him for jumping at the opportunity. I also don’t think putting the program up for a vote in June had anything to do with profiting from it — I think it had to do with getting the program approved before his term as Chairman was over.
But it doesn’t matter. The problem is it just looks bad.
Recently Internet Advertising Bureau joined Association of National Advertisers in opposing the new top level domains program. Interestingly, I haven’t seen them point to this specific conflict. But other groups, including Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse, have.
ICANN has received plenty of pushback on its new TLD plans both during the process of creating the applicant rules as well as after it was approved. Everyone has an opinion, and it would be wrong to point to Dengate Thrush’s move as proof that this is just a money grab.
But that won’t stop people from bringing attention to it, and that will bad for ICANN.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
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- Former ICANN Chairman Joins Minds + Machines
- .XXX Registry to ICANN: “We Must Protect Our Rights”
Peter Dengate Thrush joins publicly traded company poised to profit from new top level domain names.
That was quick.
Less than a month after pushing through a vote approving the new top level domain name program at his last meeting as ICANN Chairman, Peter Dengate Thrush has joined a company applying for new top level domain names.
Dengate Thrush will join Top Level Domain Holdings (parent company of Minds + Machines) as Executive Chairman.
His compensation package will include options on 15 million shares at 8p per share.
This is certainly a big coup for Top Level Domain Holdings. But it also begs the question about why Dengate Thrush pushed through the vote in his last meeting as Chair. It’s highly likely that it was so it would be part of his legacy, but joining a new TLD applicant so quickly after the vote will certainly raise eyebrows.
It makes you wonder if ICANN staffers that remain with the non-profit during the new TLD gold rush are fools for doing so. Certainly there’s more money on the outside, at least during the application process.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
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Related posts:
- ICANN Tells Governments Where it Stands
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- .XXX Registry to ICANN: “We Must Protect Our Rights”
Internet Commerce Association wants ICANN to act quickly on move by UDRP provider.
Internet Commerce Association counsel Philip Corwin has sent a letter (pdf) to ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom and Chairman of the Board Peter Dengate-Thrush asking it to act on Czech Arbitration Court’s new UDRP policy.
Czech Arbitration Court (CAC), one of the newest UDRP providers, proposed a new scheme in which it would charge only 500 EUR to file a domain name complaint and arbitrators would not spend as much time on cases.
ICANN held a public comment period on the proposal, in which all 15 comments were opposed to CAC’s scheme. That includes comments from an existing arbitrator who questioned the basis for the proposal.
Counsel for CAC posted a comment on Domain Name Wire’s earlier story on the proposal, stating that it would not move forward without ICANN’s blessing. Instead, before getting final word from ICANN, CAC made a few changes to the proposal and announced it was going forward with our without ICANN’s approval.
So far, ICANN has not made any public comment on CAC’s move that I’m aware of. It was briefly discussed in another context on the first day of ICANN’s meeting in Nariobi.
Whether ICANN acts on CAC’s move or not, it needs to say something.
© DomainNameWire.com 2009.
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Related posts:
- ICA Asks ICANN to Halt Expedited Domain Arbitration Plans
- Comments 15-0 Against Expedited UDRP. So What Will ICANN Do?
- Coming March 15: File a UDRP for 500 EUR