Internet Governance; ICANN and Accountability

Contention writes: "The following policy was released by ICANN today (9th July), reiterating their commitment to 'A Unique, Authoritive Root for the DNS'. The document contains a stern warning to anyone '[working] under the philosophy that if they get there first with something that looks like a TLD and invite many registrants to participate, then ICANN will be required [...] to recognize in perpetuity these pseudo TLDs, inhibiting new TLDs with the same top-level name' while at the same time encouraging clearly marked, experimental alternate DNS roots." So ICANN says, unsurprisingly, that ICANN is needed to govern the domain system. Meanwhile, the Markle Foundation released a study of internet governance and accountability issues today. Read the study, or the NYT article about it.

Comments

Hilarious Excerpts

[zpengo]

Here are some funny excerpts from the report:

• ICANN was subsequently selected by the United States Government from among several proposals submitted precisely because it was open, consensus-based, and rooted in the Internet community. (Consensus my left butt cheek)
• This commitment to a unique and authoritative root is a key part of the broader public trust - to carry out the Internet's central coordination functions for the public good - that is ICANN's reason for existence. (Is this a technological organization or a religious movement?)
• "As Internet names increasingly have commercial value, the decision to add new top-level domains cannot be made on an ad hoc basis by entities or individuals that are not formally accountable to the Internet community." (Now, if only we could get ICANN to be accountable to the Internet community...)
• The success of the Internet and the guarantee of Internet stability rest on the cooperative activities of thousands, even millions, of people and institutions collaborating worldwide towards a common end. (...yet ICANN holds all the cards).
• ICANN - in deference to its public trust - will continue to collaborate with these citizens of the Internet community to advance the notions of a unique root system as a prerequisite to Internet stability, and to ensure that community-based policies take precedence. (Translation: We only give TLDs to the highest bidder; Anything else would cause instability.)

Yeesh.

public interest

[spellcheckur]

From the article:
These decisions of the alternate-root operators have been made without any apparent regard for the fundamental public-interest concern of Internet stability.

ICANN has the best interests of the public in mind?
Next you'll be telling me the RIAA has the best interests of the artists in mind.