RSSUS Gov't Extends Oversight of ICANN
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published September 20, 2006, 6:15 PM
In an opening statement of testimony delivered today to the Senate Commerce Committee, Dr. John Twomey, the president and CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) stated (in prepared remarks submitted in writing) that it has entered into a five-year extension of its current agreement to let the U.S. Dept. of Commerce oversee its operations.
The move signals the completion of the U.S. government's about-face in its stance regarding whether the public or private sector should manage the system that assigns and maps the world's Internet domain names, delegating the authority for registering names to other firms.
ICANN is officially a private entity, but since 1998, has continued operation under an agreement with the federal government that they would work in tandem to develop and implement the Internet network identification system, applying principles of fairness and objectivity toward all parties, before the government bows out of the process.
That bowing out was supposed to happen in September 2001, and at first, the Commerce Dept. appeared willing and ready to get out of the Internet's way. But with each September that passed until 2003, the two parties' "Memorandum of Understanding" was extended by another year.
In 2003, the two entered into a three-year extension, during which time ICANN was supposedly commissioned by the DOC to "develop a strategic plan that sets forth its goals for securing long-term sustainability of critical DNS management responsibilities, including the necessary corporate structure and financial and personnel resources necessary to meet such responsibilities," according to the extension agreement.
"The expectation of the Department," said Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce John Kneuer, in his testimony before the Committee today, "was that the three-year time frame would allow ICANN sufficient opportunity to formalize appropriate relationships with the organizations that form the technical underpinnings of the Internet, secure the necessary resources to ensure its long-term independence, improve its mechanisms for broad participation by all Internet stakeholders, and continue to improve its decision-making processes."
But the fact that the Commerce Dept. wasn't directly involved in this planning process, Kneuer carefully implied, is the reason it wasn't done in time. Furthermore, a request for comments from the private sector regarding how best to effectuate the transition toward private autonomy for ICANN resulted in comments from 700 organizations, the details of which, Kneuer just as carefully implied, may actually require five more years to scrutinize.
Part of the problem, as some corporations have alleged over the years, may lie in the very fact that bestowing such critical authority over digital communications to any one private entity may by definition hinder the independence of that entity. Such has been the argument made by .COM and .NET registrar VeriSign, which in 2004 sued ICANN in an antitrust case that was dismissed by a federal judge.
In an extremely carefully worded statement before the Commerce Committee today, VeriSign Chief Security Officer Ken Silva stated ICANN has made some evolutionary progress toward the independence the government at least says it seeks.
"At the heart of the question is ICANN's independence and what that means for the core infrastructure of the Internet," Silva said. "ICANN has taken steps, through its registry agreements, to become more financially independent. Under the old model, one industry controlled ICANN's budget and that was an unhealthy system. ICANN has taken steps to get additional funding from the registries without conditions, which means it will have more independence."
Strangely, ICANN's Dr. Twomey concluded his opening remarks without exactly spelling out how it intends to make good on its pledge, or whether a pledge still exists. He did state ICANN continues ongoing negotiations with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, an agency of the executive branch, for extending its ongoing relationship there, but left open the question of whether it would continue for five more years or possibly longer.
"ICANN is committed to its continuing role as the private sector steward of a stable and globally interoperable Internet," Dr. Twomey stated, "and is committed to fostering competition in the domain name marketplace."
Which is worse: A private entity that may run Icann in such a way as to make a profit. Or the government that may run things in such a way as to control the internet and possibly the content of it?
I prefer honest motives such as avarice to the dishonest hypocrisy of benevolent governments. After all, just see how well they do with the other powers we give them...like the military...
How very surprising that the US govermnent finds itself reluctant to hand over this power over the internet. Who could have imagined a government refusing to willingly give up power...shocking I say, just shocking.
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How would you like to hand over the FCC to mci-worldcomm, the FTC to verisign or ms?
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Most things are better off in the private sector,
but the Internet is not one of 'em.
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The Computer Rodent
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Most things are better off not in the hands of the US Government
and the Internet is one of 'em.
There you go, i fixed it for ya
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"i fixed it for ya"
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Ha ! PC_Fool (John Karr) posting under a different
nic.
Thought your favorite rodent wouldn't recognize you,
huh ?
You old troll, the PC Rat sees right through your
trite deceptions !
"Galway" ...where'd you ever get a stupid nic like
that, PC_Fool ? Why don't you just use your REAL
name (John Karr) instead of "PC_Fool" or "Galway" ?
Your Pal,
The Computer Rodent
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John Mark Karr's Computer Is Gone!
PC Rat: did you have something to do with that?
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Sorry. But it's BetaNews glitching, ~not~
the PC Rat tiple posting.
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The Computer Rodent
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Well, you notice suddnly PC_Fool becomes
"Galway".
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The Computer Rodent
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Who the hell is John Karr?
Listen here u troll, if your going to "out" me at least get it right!.
You dont know me, noone knows me, and if you think you can guess me from a post you Might think was made by someone else then im afraid ur wrong LOL
Clue . I been reged in this name for at least a year, posting on various things.
Clue two .. Im a from the UK (yea yea thats in the EU).
Third clue ... Im named after my all time fave C64 music genious.
There ... Ive narrowed it down for ya.
Care to get it wrong again ?
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