Interview with ICANN's Karl Auerbach

katie writes "Great interview! ICANN, the Infofascist organization which rules the Internet with more effective power than any government, was told yesterday to 'fess up and show its knickers to reform-minded Board member Karl Auerbach. DesktopLinux.com Contributing Editor Malcolm Dean interviewed Auerbach at the Los Angeles Superior Court ..."

Comments

Just a bit biased

[wowbagger]

OK, while I agree with the CONTENT of the article, the way it was written was just a bit biased. I get very nervous when folks start throwing around words like "infofascism" - while it may sound good, and it may have a grain of truth, it is a word designed to appeal to the emotions, not to truth - a word designed to push emotional buttons and short-circuit rational thought.

An otherwised unbiased and uninformed person will be inflamed by the article, one way or the other. But I fear that most people have a contrarian streak in them, and that most people's gut reaction to this article will be to dismiss it, since it is so blatently biased.

For the love of TCP/IP...

[Saint Aardvark]

Learn what the hell words mean.

"The result was the ideal fascist solution." No, actually, it wasn't. "A money machine for insiders" is many things, but that's not fascism.

Fascism is a particular political philosophy, not an organization whose politics you don't like. It places the rights and interests of the state above the rights and interests of the individual, because of a belief that the importance of the state to its citizens supercedes the importance of individual members.

I'm sure there are many, many problems with ICANN that deserve the attention that Mr. Auerbach has given them, and this is not at all meant to detract from that. Using words to insult, rather than carry meaning, bothers me no matter who the hell it comes from.

Don't toss around words without knowing what they refer to.

Re:For the love of TCP/IP...

[acceleriter]

When they quit calling crackers hackers, copyright infringers pirates, and security specialists terrorists, I'll quit calling them fascists. Deal?

Re:For the love of TCP/IP...

[wfrp01]

Fascism is a particular political philosophy, not an organization whose politics you don't like. It places the rights and interests of the state above the rights and interests of the individual, because of a belief that the importance of the state to its citizens supercedes the importance of individual members.

The point Karl Auerbah, John Gilmore, and others are making is that ICANN behaves exactly as you have described. Which would make the use of the term 'fascist' entirely appropriate.

You don't obviate the need for rationally dispelling a contrary point of view by policing the use of language.

Honesty

[www.sorehands.com]

Maybe it is a bit of honesty. He may have been saying that because he has ticked them off and that may have made the ICANN management more resistant to his requests than another person in the same position.

Re:My take ...

[Danse]

ICANN has a thorn that they placed in their own side, by opening elections they basically shot themselves in the foot.

ICANN probably wouldn't exist in its current form if it hadn't promised up front to hold elections. They stalled for quite a while and cut the number of elected seats in half, but they had to at least hold an election eventually. Now that they've done it, they say it didn't work and that they aren't going to do it anymore. I think that is the signal to get rid of ICANN. If it can't work democratically, then it shouldn't exist. I think it has become glaringly obvious that what is needed more than anything today is transparency. We've seen the effects of secrecy and corruption. This corporation is administering the Internet for crying out loud! You'd think we could get a little democracy, transparency, and accountability injected into that at least!