Late this afternoon, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, which manages the dot-ca domain, issued an important public letter to ICANN. As a CIRA board member for the past five years, I'm particularly proud of this letter as the organization has publicly called on ICANN to follow accountable, transparent, and fair processes. The public call comes after a number of incidents, the most prominent of which is the ICANN – Verisign agreement, which the ICANN board approved in late February. The letter sets out the changes that CIRA thinks are needed for ICANN to succeed. Until ICANN remedies the accountability concerns, CIRA's board has decided to suspend voluntary payments to ICANN as well as any consideration of the Accountability Framework that ICANN has promoted to country-code TLDs. Moreover, CIRA will not host or be a major sponsor of any ICANN events.
It is an open secret that many in the Internet community are frustrated by the ICANN board's recent actions. CIRA may be the first ccTLD to take this public action, but I'd be willing to wager that it won't be the last.
CEO, Thornley Fallis
Thank you for posting the letter Michael. These are important issues. I hope that CIRA will persist in this matter.