Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

ICANN Ditches Public Participation

Posted by michael on from the time-to-rebel dept.

Ziest writes "The AP is reporting that ICANN, who is meeting in Shanghai, has voted to eliminate direct elections to its board of directors." See also does-not-exist.org. It's not as if this is recent change -- just the last step in a long process.

22 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. How can they get away with this. by Performer+Guy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Someone should hold them accountable.... oh wait!

    1. Re:How can they get away with this. by zanerock · · Score: 2, Funny

      Maybe the real question then, is "How can't they get away with this?" (Insert smiling vaudville danger with cane and jazz-hands.)

    2. Re:How can they get away with this. by beowulfcluster · · Score: 1, Funny
      Now they need to be disbanded before they turn into the secretive and beaurocratic money pit they aspire to be.
      The Emperor has dissolved the imperial senate. The regional commanders now have direct control of their systems.
  2. Lord Vader has disolved the Senate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    The last remnants of the old republic have been swept away...

    1. Re:Lord Vader has disolved the Senate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      the emperor dissolved the senate! Geez! Get your shit straight before you try to be all cool.

    2. Re:Lord Vader has disolved the Senate by schlach · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, the President dissolved the Senate!

      "Fear will keep the local systems in line."

      "The Senate has got a lousy record on my judges. We need to change the Senate for a lot of reasons, and one reason is to make sure we've got a sound judiciary," he said Monday in Denver.

      "This comprehensive plan calls for a clean start..." added the President's lapdog, Ari Fleisher.

      (ok so it's not as bad as i made it sound, but it's still pretty funny, in context)

  3. From the article: by Hayzeus · · Score: 5, Funny
    ...a move that critics complained could make the group indifferent to ordinary users and hurt innovation.

    Right. With this latest move, unresponsiveness now becomes a distinct possibility. I'd really hate to see ICANN become indifferent to ordinary users...

    --

    Roving Web-Teleoperated Robot
    1. Re:From the article: by n9hmg · · Score: 5, Funny

      Here's the thread for this:
      Lynn and others said the group's former method of electing five of the 18 board members over the Internet bogged ICANN down in debates that held up its main work -- making decisions that affect everything from how Web sites are named to how e-mail is sent.
      Elected member: "We can't do that, it's wrong. They've been in business, since the great-great-grandfather arrived from Russia in 1830, and been shipping orders from their webpage since 1992!"
      Appointed member: "There he goes again, bogging us down, holding up our main work"
      A.M. 2: "We need to get on with transferring shapirosdelicatessen.com to Microsoft, since the new MS Delicatessen IDE is coming out next fall."
      A.M. 3: "And don't forget, we've got to transfer cerf.net from that cybersquatter, Vint Cerf, Verizon, for their new C(entral) E(uropean) R(adio) F(requency) wireless broadband network."
      Chairman: "Bailiff, remove him."

    2. Re:From the article: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I hate it when people don't get sarcasm.

  4. Shanghai by csnydermvpsoft · · Score: 5, Funny

    Shame they had to have it in China - dang dictatorship must be contagious.

  5. From the article by L.+VeGas · · Score: 5, Funny

    Lynn said he would recommend adding three new Internet domain names, though he said there were no plans yet on when to create them or what they would be called.

    hmmm, how about

    .cant .touch .this

    or
    .we .the .man

    or
    .out .of .touch

    or
    ....

    --
    Best Windows Freeware
  6. And having dropped all pretention of fairness by 3-State+Bit · · Score: 5, Funny

    or democracy, ICANN begins the process of subverting the Internet toward its own nefarious private goals.

    In keeping with these changes, ICANN announces that it will be changing its name to reflect its new mission to become:

    Universal Controller of All Network Traffic.

    (Headline: ICANN changes name to UCANT).

    Credit.

    1. Re:And having dropped all pretention of fairness by uberstool · · Score: 5, Funny

      Slashdot has also changed it's name to

      66.35.250.150

  7. Re:Did you notice this? by bleckywelcky · · Score: 4, Funny


    Not exactly. I would say it is more like having a lobotomy because your brain keeps telling you it's not good to eat toxic waste, but you happen to like the taste of it.

  8. Re:Did you notice this? by mttlg · · Score: 5, Funny

    Isn't that like cutting off your leg because of an ingrown toenail?

    Actually, it's more like cutting off your feet with a rusty pocketknife because they hurt when you walk barefoot on broken glass and rusty nails.

  9. In other news... by Amazing+Quantum+Man · · Score: 5, Funny


    The Earth shifted even further in it's orbit, as Jon Postel continued spinning madly in his grave.

    --
    Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
  10. The inevitable name change... by Yobgod+Ababua · · Score: 3, Funny

    Universal
    Corporation for
    Assigning
    Names and
    Numbers via
    Totalitarianism

  11. Re:Did you notice this? by schon · · Score: 5, Funny

    They were tired of people telling them that they were out of touch with internet users, so they decided to stop allowing internet users to elect members of the board.

    In other news, Vint Cerf was heard to remark "Let them eat cake!"

  12. Re:Did you notice this? by WeaponOfChoice · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yet another Dilbert-Reality crossover. This really reminds me of the strip where the boss is explaining to the Engineers that due to the lousy results of the employee satisfaction survey (upon which part of management bonuses are based) the survey would be discontinued.

    On a more serious note I would have thought there'd be some legislation to stop a public services company ('cause that's what ICANN is, like it or not) from reducing it's public accountability...

    --


    It's not that I'm Anti-American - I'm Pro-Freedom
  13. Shanghaied! by SwedishChef · · Score: 4, Funny

    Clipper ship sailors used to talk about roving "press gangs" who would round up all able-bodied men they could catch and force them to serve as crew aboard a sailing ship. The term for this was "shanghaied". How appropriate that ICANN has announced, from Shanghai, that they have shanghaied the Internet.

    --
    No one ever had to evacuate a city because the solar panels broke!
  14. No more elections by quantum+bit · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I have just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.

    Anonymous Coward: "But that's impossible. How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?"

    The regional governors now have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line.

  15. Re:History Repeats Itself... by mlippert · · Score: 2, Funny

    You know, I seem to have encountered mention of Hitler or Nazis in several of the threads I've browsed in the last week or two.

    It just made me wonder if Godwin's law also applies to /.?

    And if it does, what does it mean when those posts are modded up?!?

    Mike