[thelist] ICANN Election

Kevin B. O'Brien ahuka at ahuka.com
Tue Jul 18 11:21:18 CDT 2000


At 09:58 AM 7/18/2000 +0200, Steve Cook said something remarkably like (but 
somehow subtly different from):
>Certainly is interesting. I have taken the (slightly long and arduous) step
>of signing up for ICANN at Large membership and will be supporting Alan as
>much as I can. WARNING - I had a problem with the ICANN at Large membership
>form and had to return another day to get my submission in. I have heard
>similar complaints from others - especially after Slashdot posted the link.
>Bear with it and register - this is an important chance to be involved with
>an organisation who have an unprecedented amount of sway in what goes on
>behind the Internet scenes.
>
>When it comes to questions such as "Should we have new top level domains"
>and "Who can register domain names", ICANN are the people that end up making
>the decisions. They are a pretty dry and boring bunch, but they NEED our
>input to help create an Internet that works! Let's try and help our Head
>Lemur in his quest for power^H^H^H^H^H justice and stand behind him in the
>coming elections.

If you had asked me as little as 6 months ago, I would have said that ICANN 
should be allowed to get on with it without government interference. But 
events have made me reconsider that position. Originally the proposed 
makeup of the Board was to be split between the major corporate sponsors 
and the general public, 9 members from each camp. That was a reasonable 
split, in my view. Since then, ICANN has moved to weaken, as much as 
possible, any role for consumers in the affairs of this body. The number of 
At-Large consumer representatives was reduced to 5, instead of 9, for the 
next two years. The remaining four seats will not be filled until 2002 at 
the earliest. This means that At-Large representatives will be in a 
minority for at least the next two years, when many crucial decisions will 
be made. This decision to reduce the representation of users was 
unanimously endorsed by the industry representatives on the Board. Vint 
Cerf was the only member to even raise a question about it.

However, two government representatives at the Yokohama meetings questioned 
this policy, and pointed out that government support of industry 
self-regulation might be withdrawn if there was not sufficient public 
representation. If ICANN is determined to be simply a mouthpiece for the 
major corporations, such governmental oversight may be necessary.

This matters for a number of reasons, but the one that is most apparent to 
me right now is that ICANN is devoting a great deal of energy to defending 
the interests of its corporate sponsors without paying the least attention 
to any ideas of free speech. If you want the Internet to be the online 
equivalent of a shopping mall, with guards patrolling, no one allowed to 
hand out pamphlets, etc., ICANN is certainly helping that along. 
Personally, I find malls sterile and depressing.


--
Kevin B. O'Brien                TANSTAAFL
ahuka at ahuka.com
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