For now: California AG backs down on document requests
Attorney general had by now narrowed the initial scope ahead of ICANN published letter.
On January 30, ICANN published a letter from the California Attorney General that asked ICANN to answer 35 questions relating to pricing practices and the transaction to sell .org to Ethos Capital.
Oddly, ICANN waited until last Friday, February 7, to publish a communication (pdf) between ICANN’s attorney at Jones Day (who used to work for the California attorney general) and the attorney general that was sent on January 29, a day ahead of ICANN published the attorney general’s initial letter.
That email outlines that ICANN would prioritize document production to just three of the 35 requests. The email also stated, “Finally, you also agreed that, until further notice, ICANN need not produce documents or materials called for in the other requests.”
It turns out that Jones Day sent a formal letter (pdf) to the attorney general on January 31, linking to publicly available information in response to the three requests. Again, that letter wasn’t published until last Friday.
Why ICANN published the attorney general’s letter and blogged regarding it on January 30 without noting that the initial request had been narrowed in scope is beyond me.
It’s unclear if the attorney general merely delayed the other requests until it reviewed the initial information, or if it’s backing down from further requests. We might find out on another Friday.
