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International Foundation for Online Responsibility

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Type: Non-profit organization
Industry: Domain Industry
Headquarters: 919 18th Street, NW Suite 925

Washington, DC 20006

Country: USA
Website: iffor.org
Key People
Clyde Beattie, Chairman
Joan Irvine, Executive Director

International Foundation for Online Responsibility (IFFOR) is the sponsoring organization for the .xxx sponsored top level domain name (sTLD) which was approved by the ICANN Board on March 18, 2011.[1] It is responsible in formulating the policies for of the .xxx registry which will be administered by ICM Registry. IFFOR is a non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. and its operations is independent although it will be funded through a $10 per domain registration from the ICM Registry.

Structure[edit | edit source]

Board Members[edit | edit source]

Originally, Stuart Lawley, president of ICM Registry was the chairman of IFFOR Board however due to continuous criticisms from the internet community regarding conflict of interests, he relinquished his position as chairman of the board. Clyde Beattie, former Manager of the CIRA for .ca replaced him. Other members of the board include Sébastien Bachollet, CEO BBS Consulting/ ALAC Representative to the ICANN Board and Sheri Falco, ICM General Counsel.[2]

Policy Council[edit | edit source]

The Policy Council is responsible in developing programs,selection criteria and procedures to achieve and promote the organization's policy goals including the selection of recipients fund from its grants program. It will also consist of the following self-forming and self-administering Stakeholder Groups such as Sponsored Community (SCSG), Free Expression (FESG), Child Advocacy (CASG) and Privacy And Security (PASSG). Membership of the Policy council will comprise of 5 members from the sponsored community, 2 members selected by the IFFOR Board, 1 child safety expert, 1 free expression expert, 1 privacy and security expert and 1 ICM representative.[3]

The members of the Policy Council were named in June and August of 2011. They were:[4] [5]

  • Professor Nadine Strossen- former president of American Civil Union Liberties (ACLU); (Freedom of Expression representative0
  • Sharon Sterling Obe- former British Law Enforcement Officer (Child Protection representative)
  • Fred Cate- Law Professor (Privacy and Security representative)
  • Jerry Barnett- Managing Director of Strictly Broadband (Sponsored Community representative)
  • Florian Sitta- Head, Legal Dept of the German porn retailer Beate Uhse (Sponsored Community representative)
  • Trieu Hoang- Counsel for AbbyWinters.com (Sponsored Community representative)
  • Chad Bellville - U.S. based Lawyer (Sponsored Community representative)
  • Andy Kayton- General Counsel for WebPower (Sponsored Community representative)

Staff[edit | edit source]

Policy Goals[edit | edit source]

As the policy making body for the .xxx sTLD, IFFOR enumerated the following policy goals:[6]

  • Foster communication between the Sponsored Community and other Internet stakeholders
  • Protect free expression rights as defined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights
  • Promote the development and adoption of responsible business practices designed to combat online child abuse images, user choice and parental control regarding access to online adult entertainment
  • Protect the privacy, security, and consumer rights of consenting adult consumers of online adult entertainment goods and services

The organization also aims to conduct various activities to fight the proliferation of child abuse materials, piracy and internet censorship.[7] On December 5, 2011, IFFOR established working groups to tackle the issues such as:[8]

  • Piracy Working Group- Tasked to evaluate the current situation situation of internet piracy and develop strategies to prevent it.Trieu Hoang, General Counsel of AbbyWinters was appointed chairman of the working group.
  • Filtering Working Group- Responsible in examining the global filtering laws and regulations and help educate lawmakers about the benefits of user-define filtering in contrast with the mandated ISP or router-level blocking.Jerry Barnett, chairman of UK Adult Industry Trade Association will lead the working group

IFFOR will fight child abuse materials through its Child Advocacy Stakeholder Group led by Sharon Girling Obe, a former British law enforcement officer involved in combating high profile child exploitation.

References[edit | edit source]


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