Abstract: Freedom of expression and privacy are internationally recognised human rights. This paper addresses the privacy and freedom of expression issues that arise in relation to ICANN policies and procedures.
In particular, it explores the corporate responsibility of ICANN to respect human rights. It relies on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Guiding Principles), known as the âProtect, Respect, and Remedyâ framework,ii which were unanimously adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council in June 2011.
This paper sets out the UN Guiding Principles and explains their relevance to ICANNâs policies and procedures on new gTLDs and the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). In particular, it examines the ways in which ICANNâs standards and policies governing the âsensitive applied-for stringsâ fall short of freedom of expression standards, and, furthermore, how the RAA provisions are in breach of data protection best practices and standards.
This paper is available for download in full from the Social Science Research Network website at:
ssrn.com/abstract=2667488