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Karl Auerbach Speaks Out on ICANN

Posted by michael on from the taxation-without-representation dept.

richard koman writes "Here's an interview I did with Karl Auerbach about ICANN in the aftermath of their eliminating public board members. 'October's distributed, denial-of-service attack against the domain name system--the most serious yet, in which seven of the thirteen DNS roots were cut off from the Internet--put a spotlight on ICANN, the nongovernmental corporation responsible for Internet addressing and DNS. The security of DNS is on ICANN's watch. Why is it so susceptible to attack, when the Internet as a whole is touted as being able to withstand nuclear Armageddon? It's religious dogma, says Karl Auerbach, a public representative to ICANN's board. There's no reason DNS shouldn't be decentralized, except that ICANN wants to maintain central control over this critical function. Worse, Auerbach said in a telephone interview with O'Reilly Network, ICANN uses its domain name dispute resolution process to expand the rights of trademark holders, routinely taking away domains from people with legitimate rights to them, only to reward them to multinational corporations with similar names.'" A Wired article suggests the five elected board members won't be stepping down on December 15 after all.

6 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. Support alternatives! by jon787 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    http://www.opennic.unrated.net/
    I should probably start pointing my OpenNIC domain at my server again.

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    1. Re:Support alternatives! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      OK, so now I have the OPENnic set for my DNS servers ... how does one get a .indy domain?

  2. naive by kin_korn_karn · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You expected ethical behavior from businessmen who founded a corporation to administer a database? Business people just do not behave altruistically. There is ALWAYS an angle.

  3. The thing I don't understand is by Vladinator · · Score: 1, Interesting

    why we can't just decentralize DNS ourselves? If we could set up say 5 root servers (surely SOMEONE would be interested?) or so, we should be able to handle the load, right? Let's not forget that the internet is a collection of seperate networks. If those networks stoped participating in the current DNS system, ICANN would quickly become irrelivant, right?

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    "Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion." - Jed Babbin

  4. nuclear attack? by BSOD+from+above · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Targeted EMP would be more effective, although 4 or 5 well placed nukes would take out most of the electronics on the planet. Unfortunately they would probably hurt someone too.

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  5. who pays? by WPIDalamar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    2 questions...

    Who pays ICANN's paychecks? Is it the domain registrars?

    Can a company or individual sue a company for anti-trust? Or does it have to be a government? And could ICANN be sued for this?