North American Network Operators Group
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Re: Let's talk about ICANN

  • From: JC Dill
  • Date: Mon Dec 12 13:36:43 2005 
Hannigan, Martin wrote:


I would think that ICANN is off topic for NANOG?
I strongly believe the WSIS news was disturbing and of significant operational interest - what would have happened if the UN simply "decided" that ICANN shouldn't keep the powers it now has and "decided" to create a new group to have those powers? What would root server operators do? In particular, what would the root server operators outside the US do?

I personally don't believe ICANN should be under the thumb of the US as it currently is. Unfortunately, as I see it the WSIS discussions were not on the right track to FIX this problem, they were treating it as a political problem when really it's just an organizational problem - ICANN should not be controlled by any governmental organization (US or UN) it should be controlled by those it serves (the networking community). ICANN's tabling of the .xxx proposal due to US pressure was a really stupid move and will cause the groups petitioning for the US oversight to end to ramp up their efforts. I'm worried that this will come about in a very messy way, causing operational problems.

Do we wait until those operational problems occur, or do we take action now to try to ensure that changes are made in an operationally sound fashion? In other words, do we (the network operations community) ramp up efforts to get ICANN to become an organization run by its members and no longer held "accountable" to the US government, or do we wait until politicians "fix" this problem their way? When was the last time the network operations community was happy with a government "solution" to a problem facing network operations? Look at all the bad anti-spam laws that abound. Look at all the bad intellectual property laws that abound. Look at how these laws result in problems for network operators, especially for networks that cross political boundaries. We don't need more (or different) government "oversight" of the internet - IMHO we need effective self-governance.

jc