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Why ICANN Needs Fresh Blood

Posted by timothy on from the when-not-craving-blood-is-bad dept.

scubacuda writes "Akash Kapur of CircleID has written an editorial, Why ICANN Needs Fresh Blood: A Deeper View . Kapur writes, "ICANN was born amid the heady days of Internet euphoria. Its early promise to be the world's first global democracy (not to mention an entirely new form of governance) was a product of that euphoria. But like so many dot-coms, ICANN quickly succumbed to the hubris of its own vision. If ICANN has been a troubled organization from the start, then that is in no small measure because it over-promised at the start....What's needed is fresh blood -- new personalities, and new ideas to break the ideological impasse." Kapur lists cancelled at-large elections, the authoritarianism and secrecy of ICANN discussion, and the narrowing possibility that ICANN could represent a new model of governance as indicators that global democracy has failed."

4 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. Obvious answer... by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Funny

    ICANN needs fresh blood because it's a frickin' vampire!

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    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  2. Total reorganization by Blaine+Hilton · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think the only thing that can help ICANN is a complete reorganization. Every rule and policy should be gone over by a 3rd party. The Internet is growing way to big and way to fast for ICANN to properly handle their job and they are falling very short. With their current policies I think they are hurting future growth of the medium.

  3. Nostalgia... by La+Temperanza · · Score: 5, Funny

    I remember when I used to enter "billing@internic.net" as my e-mail address for every service (before they started requiring confirmation) and signed them up for all the free offers. :)

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  4. (in)action by scubacuda · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I can remember the first time I started using the Internet my freshman year in college. Wow...here was the perfect manifestation of all my libertarian (then Randroid-ian) ideals. How could unfettered access to information NOT topple over all oppressive regimes?

    It took me a long time to realize this, but the Internet qua Internet will NOT change the world for the better.

    If you were part of the upper echelon in the Soviet Union, would YOU want democracy? Would you give up the security--your nice apartment, caviar dinners, and KGB contacts--to live in a country where you didn't know what your lot/role in life would be?

    Once you look at it this way, everything from the way that closed regimes limit netizens' access to information makes to the way cable and software companies (namely, Microsoft) "act strategically" makes sense.

    People/governments/regimes have worked hard to make their way to the top. They're not about to put in place policies or architectures in place that threaten that hegemony.

    My question to the /. community is: what do we do to change this? We are arguably the biggest nerd gathering on the planet. Individually we might not have clout, but with the right direction, collectively we might...