The ICANN CEO controversially abstained from voting on the approval of the .XXX sponsored Top Level Domain at the board meeting on 18 March that concluded the organisation’s meeting in Silicon Valley-San Francisco.
At the time, according to Kieren McCarthy writing on his .NXT blog, Beckstrom said “I just note that I will submit written remarks for the record on my abstention. Thank you.”
His abstention on the.XXX vote were due to his objection “to one of the majority findings of an Independent Review Panel, which forced .xxx back to the table last year after ICANN had tried to reject it,” according to a Domain Incite report.
Domain Incite goes on to give more detail for Beckstrom’s reasoning, and also quotes him saying about the Governmental Advisory Committee that he notes “the concerns of the GAC, which while not expressed as a clear decision, was nonetheless directional.”
The Domain Incite article with further information is available at domainincite.com/why-icanns-ceo-did-not-vote-on-xxx.