OT: ICANN ordered by Illinois court to suspend spamhaus.org

[mikea]

On Mon, Oct 09, 2006 at 07:01:57PM +0100, Michele Neylon :: Blacknight.ie wrote:
> Green, Rodney wrote:
> > http://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/662
> > 
> > I haven't seen this mentioned here on the MS list. If this were to
> > happen, how much of an effect do you think it will have on us anti-spam
> > people using MS/SpamAssassin?
> 
> The logical move would be to set it up using a non-ICANN controlled TLD....

And make sure that all parts of the apparatus supporting it (e.g., DNS,
registrars for the TLD and for the IP space) are non-US. 

Better still, in the long run, is for Spamhaus to appear in the federal
court[1], to defend itself vigorously, for various major ISPs to submit
_amicus curiae_ briefs outlining: 
o  their experiences with Atriks/e360 spam; 
o  the measures they've had to take; 
o  how Spamhaus has helped; 
o  and what would happen if Spamhaus were to be shut down. 

At the moment the judge's order states (IIRC) only that ICANN is to 
place a suspension or client hold on www.spamhaus.org:

:         3. Until such time as defendant demonstrates
: to this Court why should not be held in contempt for
: its failure to comply with the order for permanent
: injunction, a suspension, or client hold, shall be
: placed on defendants website, which can be found at
: www.Spamhaus.org.

:         4. The suspension, or client hold, of
: www.Spamhaus.org shall commence immediately. The Internet
: Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which
: was created through a Memorandum of Understanding between
: the U.S. Department of Commerce and ICANN to transition
: management of the Domain Name System (DNS) from the
: U.S. government to the global community, and/or Tucows,
: Inc., ICANN's accredited registrar for www.spamhaus.org,
: is hereby ordered to suspend or place a client hold on
: www.Spamhaus.org until such time as they receive a further
: order from this Court that such suspension or client hold be
: lifted.

I strongly suspect that the judge phrased this order with *extreme* 
care. 

[1]   Apparently their solicitor/barrister advised them not to, but
      rather to let the suit go to a default judgment; that happened,
      with disastrous implicaitons. 

-- 
Mike Andrews, W5EGO
mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin