US Govt Wants to Control ICANN?

blankmange writes "ZDNet is covering a new piece of legislation that may be introduced by Sen. Conrad Burns that would give the US government more control of ICANN - the independent corporation that controls the domain-naming system of the internet. 'In a statement released two days before a Senate subcommittee is scheduled to hold hearings on the global body, Burns said the change was necessary because ICANN has exceeded its authority, does not operate in an open fashion, and is dangerously unaccountable to Internet users, businesses and other key interest groups.'"

Comments

Re:Dilemma

[gorilla]

I don't think the government every really did it. Jon Postel did, and he was paid by the government to do so, but it was really just Jon doing the right thing, and the government not having any interest in it.

Re:That's the catch with ICANN

[marxmarv]

Check me if I'm wrong here, but I very clearly remember that when NSI started charging for domain names (I also still remember when they were free) they charged $35/year. Not $50.

Originally they charged $50 per year, $15 of which was deposited into the Intellectual Infrastructure Fund for the use of the National Science Foundation. That $15 was found an unauthorized tax in 1998 in Thomas v. Network Solutions.

-jhp