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ICANN Ethical Conflicts Are Worse Than They Seem
hapworth writes "In light of outgoing ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom's admission that the board is mired in conflicts of interest, another ICANN insider has spoken up to say the ethical issues go way deeper than what Beckstrom pointed to. Beau Brendler, chairman of the North American Internet user advisory committee to ICANN (NARALO), lists ICANN's executive committee members and their individual conflicts, stating that the 'public interest is not well served by a structure and executive leadership that's conflicted by the same industry it's supposed to oversee.' Brendler says the truth about ICANN's 'hundreds' of ethical conflicts has been buried for years and is only starting to come to light because of a 'few rebellious voices.'"
The good part is that the members seem to be declaring their conflicts and recusing themselves (sometimes over half of them) rather than participate in decisions when they have a conflict. I wish this were the case with more commissions regulating other industries.
This is characteristic of all government regulation organizations. It's called "regulatory capture". Virtually anyone who has the expertise to regulate an industry developed that expertise by working in the industry - typically in high positions - and being interested in it. So the regulatory boards end up stacked with people with conflicts of interest (even if the boards pay well enough for the members to divest themselves of all current financial ties).
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
I have followed ICANN for a decade and worked for it for three years. I wrote a post on this issue that should give some answers to the questions asked above as well as give some insider insights:
http://news.dot-nxt.com/2012/03/14/beckstrom-right-for-wrong-reasons
Remember these?
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/02/05/22/0150223/icann-director-seeks-court-order-to-review-records
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/02/03/15/1655246/icann-board-spurns-democratic-elections
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/02/10/31/2035207/icann-ditches-public-participation
The problems with ICANN go back a long time. The only thing that seems to be new here is that perhaps, finally, more light is being focused on them and more people are finally taking notice. Sadly, I suspect it's too little, too late.
. 62,400 repetitions make one truth -- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Greenspan himself said:
"But on Thursday, almost three years after stepping down as chairman of the Federal Reserve, a humbled Mr. Greenspan admitted that he had put too much faith in the self-correcting power of free markets and had failed to anticipate the self-destructive power of wanton mortgage lending.
“Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders’ equity, myself included, are in a state of shocked disbelief,” he told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform"
New York Times Link
Self-regulation was an experiment that failed. Government however is currently under the control of bought politicians. So any attempts to put some effective regulation in place will be halfhearted at best, and subject to constant undermining from the inside. November 2012 hopefully will bring some changes and some sanity restored to government and its regulatory bodies.
“Politicians are like diapers, they both need changing regularly and for the same reason.”
The same reason you don't want an entrenched imperial presidency is the same reason you don't want an entrenched, imperial Congress.