Slashdot Mirror
ICANN & Internet Democracy
Before we even get into this, I'm going to recommend again that everyone sign up for ICANN's At-Large membership. The deadline is July 31 - if you haven't signed up by then, you've missed your chance to be one of a few thousand voters who will affect the course of the internet's development. U.S. registration is way below that of other internet-savvy nations on a percentage-of-internet-users basis, because the media in those countries has been running extensive registration campaigns. Slashdot will be covering the election process - register to vote! (Note: if you're planning to self-nominate yourself for one of the open board seats, even if it's not the North America seat, please email me - I'd like to talk to you.) We'll also take this opportunity to plug an unofficial site for the At-Large community created by a slashdot reader, www.applyatlarge.com. It's just getting started, but the At-Large community could use some non-ICANN methods of communication.
Jett writes "TomPaine.com has an interesting article discussing the upcoming ICANN elections. The article gives a lot of good info on how ICANN is set up as well as some analysis on some of the problems they are facing to ensure fair and democratic elections."
There's some information about the actual on-going meeting available in near-real-time, supposedly even a web-based chat though I haven't seen it in operation, sponsored by the Berkman Center. Keep in mind that Japan is ~14 hours ahead of the U.S., so the Saturday meetings will be occuring Friday night in the U.S.
Probably the most important news at this meeting is not the wrangling over new .TLDs, even though that is the only aspect of the ICANN meeting getting any press coverage. Though the vote hasn't happened yet, I'm willing to wager that the restrictive NSI proposals will win out - a few new .TLDs will be started, NSI will be running at least one of them (way to diversify!), with massive trademark protections so that most "good" domains will be unregistrable. That battle isn't going to be won any time soon. Note that every single problem associated with domain names - every single one, from squatting to scalping to companies hijacking domains from individuals - is caused by artificial scarcity of names. Eliminate the two sources of artificial scarcity (limited TLDs and trademark law) and all domain name problems vanish.
But the most important initiative at this meeting is the ambitiously-named Internet Democracy Project, started by the American Civil Liberties Union, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center. The site is already a great collection of links on ICANN, and promises more content in the future; it's a good place to start if you're new to this whole thing. They've articulated a civil society perspective on the ICANN elections process, ICANN itself, and the domain name system - excellent reading, excellent goals, I support them entirely. It remains to be seen what will come of this, but I hope that these organizations continue to do their utmost to push their views. Imagine a world where DNS was structured as they envision.
And why are they masquerading as ICANN when all they do is tell me what "I Can't" do?!!?
I tried signing up for the mentioned comittee, and had such a terrible time going through the process I just outright gave up. Sorry. I will just develop another internet-like society once the regulations are on, and I can't stand it anymore.
whatever.
"If voting could really change things, it would be illegal. " - Revolution Books, NY
I just tried to sign up for an at-large membership, and it's telling me that the database is overloaded...
Damnit! Did we just slashdot icann?
Feminism is the wild notion that women are human beings.
While I would love to see this help, I don't think that this is going to promote the cause of freedom much. At most, I see the voices of the uninformed being used for political leverage by ICANN. Voting, of course, can be used to help counteract this, but alas, I am not sure that our voice will be strong enough, and they don't have to listen to us anyway.
I'm not saying don't go out and vote, of course. One voice is small, but one hundred are not. To be one of one hundred is big, and that is how you can help this situation out. Also, ICANN is not the end all to be all of political power on the internet, but one thing that it is, is a face that governments recognize when they think of the net (kind of), which is a form of political power. I think that louder voices are in the form of independant political action, however. So, vote, vote wisely, but if you are really concerned with what is going on in the net. Write to someone in government, write a story, write an editorial to your paper. These are ways to really get your voice heard.
Eh...
I'm going to recommend again that everyone sign up for ICANN's At-Large membership.
ICANN insists on having my name, address, and email. What they don't say is what they're going to do with this info. Will this be published somewhere so that every spamming cretin on the planet will be sending me stuff? Am I going to be subjected to endless lobbying emails from groups seeking to influence my vote? Am I going to end up on the mailing list for every computer catalog in existence? (Apparently my concerns aren't shared, since the signup database over there is croaking from overload.)
was that the membership application requires a valid, non-anonymous e-mail address, as well as postal address. Does anyone else see the potential for ICANN to make megabucks by selling the member-lists to mass-marketers? Fear.
These people looked deep into my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined.
It's ICANN trying to shut us up! Rise against the man! Rise against ICANN! Don't let the man keep you down! ICANN simulated the error to wait for the /. hype to die down, it will open back up in an hour or 2 when the story is old news! CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE! Give encryption a chance!
HELP! HELP! I'm being oppressed!
Eh...
Its true...
a te.cgi
https://members.icann.org/cgi-bin/atlarge/activ
We are sorry. The database is currently overloaded. Please try again later.
Well, I guess this idea is not new, but I guess it is time to consider it. A self-nominee needs massive backup just to run for election, and I guess not many people will be able to get that backup. Why don't /.ers unite and come up with someone that may nominate themselves and get some backup from the rest of us?
Employee of Inrupt, Project Release Manager and Community Manager for Solid
Are there going to be campaigns for candidates? Will they have public platforms so the electorate knows what they're doing? By getting so many people invovled we may be doing more harm than good since it is quite possible that many of the voters don't have a clue about the canditates or their positions.
They mention something about this in the article, and I think people should realize that it's not about voting for the sake of voting - it's voting for a person or an idea.
You don't have a right to vote - you have a right to vote responsibly.
Being with you, it's just one epiphany after another
Secondly, how does one get a bank of IP addresses these days?
Will ICANN protect my personal data?
Yes. ICANN will use the personal data you provide in the application form only for purposes relating to its At Large Membership and election efforts. Your data will not be sold or transferred to unaffiliated companies or organizations, or used for any commercial purpose whatsoever.
Source:https://members.icann.org/faq.htm
I believe this answers your question.
Government White Paper
Principles for a New System. In making a decision to enter into an agreement to establish a process to transfer current U.S. government management of DNS to such a new entity, the U.S. will be guided by, and consider the proposed entity's commitment to, the following principles:
1. Stability
The U.S. Government should end its role in the Internet number and name address system in a manner that ensures the stability of the Internet. The introduction of a new management system should not disrupt current operations or create competing root systems. During the transition and thereafter, the stability of the Internet should be the first priority of any DNS management system. Security and reliability of the DNS are important aspects of stability, and as a new DNS management system is introduced, a comprehensive security strategy should be developed.
2. Competition.
The Internet succeeds in great measure because it is a decentralized system that encourages innovation and maximizes individual freedom. Where possible, market mechanisms that support competition and consumer choice should drive the management of the Internet because they will lower costs, promote innovation, encourage diversity, and enhance user choice and satisfaction.
3. Private, Bottom-Up Coordination.
Certain management functions require coordination. In these cases, responsible, private-sector action is preferable to government control. A private coordinating process is likely to be more flexible than government and to move rapidly enough to meet the changing needs of the Internet and of Internet users. The private process should, as far as possible, reflect the bottom-up governance that has characterized development of the Internet to date.
4. Representation.
The new corporation should operate as a private entity for the benefit of the Internet community as a whole. The development of sound, fair, and widely accepted policies for the management of DNS will depend on input from the broad and growing community of Internet users. Management structures should reflect the functional and geographic diversity of the Internet and its users. Mechanisms should be established to ensure international participation in decision making.
To demonstrate: I will take a moment now and declare myself Emperor of the Internet. There. See? Wasn't hard. From this day forth, all of my loyal subjects will refer to me as Emperor Greyfox I. Also, we will now be using the royal we when speaking of ourselves.
A new DNS system will be decreed sortly.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
it's a small island in the Indian ocean - Cocoas or Keelings Islands - territory of Austrailia, pop. 636, sale cash crop: coconuts. Just the perfect site for your servers.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
There is a .us TLD, but it's mainly used by gov't offices. It would be nice if people started using .us, but I don't even know if we can register them. Besides, everyone, even in non-US countries, just wants .com. There are even a lot of sites in the UK that are foouk.com, so clearly they are UK-specific, but they still want .com. But you never read trade mag articles about the .co.uk revolution, do you?
According to the email they sent me when I signed up, they're supposed to send me a PIN via snail mail. Then I use that, combined with my ID to verify my membership. It's been 2 weeks and I haven't received my PIN yet. Has anyone else gotten theirs? How long did it take?
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
So what happens when it becomes obvious to the common idiot that they've completely failed to meet these principles?
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
any us citizen or company can get a free
anyways, enough with the crap, here's the link. www.nic.us.
--
Try every single credit card company I've ever dealt with
Uh uh. You signal your assent by using the card. NetSol simply rewrites 'your' agreement and says you're now bound by it, pal, unless you opt out by canceling your domain. No 'agreement' should require an affirmative act to prevent it from taking effect.
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Okay, perhaps this is not the perfect solution... however at present it presents the only vaguely-workable solution to the domain name disaster we are experiencing. A lot of people on this site have voiced some very strong opinions and some very viable ideas on solutions. ICANN is sure as hell not lurking
SlushDot
Colin Smith
Montressor
m.o
alarmo
Snarfangel
dsplat
Mr Z
CoughDropAddict
Greyfox
kerrbear
mtphoto
Additionally, there are several folks who have voiced very strong and (sometimes) very well reasoned opinions about domain name administration. I would like to remind said folks again that, while we enjoy your input here, it has zero chance of making an impact on reality if stays on slashdot. If said people need to be reminded of their identities, they are:
JohnJake
Duane Dibbley
DHartung
titus-g
cd_Csc
chrome koran
robman
haplo21112
hidden
Garry Anderson
Lastly, remember that since ICANN is not inviting you specifically to join, a vote of abstention (by not joining) will go unheard.... and if anyone has a better, workable solution, speak it.
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2 1337 4 u!
I'm trying to come up with something sufficiently not-bind-like that would still be useful. gethostbyname et al will have to be rewritten, but that's not a huge big deal. At least, not for us Linux guys.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
http://www.dnso.org/dns o/notes/2000.GA-voting-registry.html
They advises the ICANN Board with respect to policy issues relating to the Domain Name System. I joined working group 'C' last year and participated in the debate over new TLDs. Not a whole lot came out of it, but at least I tried.
I think that /. readers should pay attention to ICANN, and what Esther Dyson and her cronies are up to. If you don't stand up and speak your mind, companies like Micro$oft, MCI, and AT&T would be happy to do it for you. We need a larger representation of non-commercial users.
While you're at it, you might want to join the Individual Domain Name Owners' Constituency too.