CICT to ask ICANN to revoke dotPH control

In this very long and seemingly unending battle between the CICT and local domain registrar/administrator dotPH, the government will ask ICANN to strip dotPH of domain functions.

Manila Bulletin has the story:

The Commission on ICT (CICT), the government’s main agency for ICT matters, will ask the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to rescind the authority it has delegated to dotPH Domains Inc. to issue country code level domains (ccTLD) if the latter would not relinquish control as a registrar and administrator at the same time.

“It has to choose only one function: either as registrar or as administrator. But it can’t have both,” said CICT chair Virgilio Pena during the sidelines of a media briefing meant to update the public on the Philippine position in the recently concluded World Summit on the Information Society held in Tunis, Tunisia.

Pena headed the local delegation which included CICT Commissioner Emmanuel Lallana, Sun Microsystems Philippines president Cynthia R. Mamon, and Foundation for Media Alternatives executive director Alan Alegre.

At the Tunis summit, Pena said he was able to talk to ICANN president and CEO Paul Twomey who gave the assurance that the recommendation of the Philippine government concerning the current domain debacle will be given weight, if not followed, by the ICANN.