Since 1998, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has been solely responsible for overseeing Internet domain name registration.
[VIDEO]This is no small task, with millions of domain names registered, and ICANN ultimately responsible (in theory, if not entirely in practice) for their registration and well-being. The organisation also has the unenviable task of resolving domain-name disputes, maintaining the Internet`s root server, and a host of other tasks without which our precious Net would come crashing down.
In the past few months, however, this Internet leader (and I don`t mean that in the PR sense), has fallen into disrepute with the press, and tarnished its image as a squeaky-clean well-oiled machine.
Things went from bad to worse for the organisation`s public image when it announced that it had changed the rules for members of the board.
Jason Norwood-Young, technology editor, ITWeb
First, Michael Froomkin, professor of law at University of Miami`s school of law, slated ICANN in a draft paper entitled "Wrong Turn In Cyberspace: Using ICANN To Route Around The APA [Administrative Procedures Act] And The Constitution".
The paper criticises the relationship between the US Department of Commerce (DOC) and ICANN: "Depending on the precise nature of the DOC-ICANN relationship, not all of which is public, DOC`s use of ICANN to run the DNS violates the APA and/or the US Constitution."
Raising eyebrows
The ICANN elections - where the body elected five At Large members to represent each region in the world, including Africa - have also fallen into disrepute.
Africa only managed to garner a meagre 130 votes, with 67 for the winner, Nii Quaynor. Eyebrows were also raised from some quarters when anarchist hacker, Andy Mueller-Maguhn, was elected as the European voice for the Internet.
Things went from bad to worse for the organisation`s public image when it announced that it had changed the rules for members of the board. Four of the interim directors have been allowed to stay on the board for another term.
Previously, all of ICANN`s interim board members were meant to resign at the end of their term, and undergo a two-year minimum cooling-off period.
Froomkin, in a public statement on the ICANNWatch Web site, slates the move: "Through an arbitrary and secretive process, four of the initial directors, each of whom had originally undertaken to serve for only one year, or two years at most, have been chosen to serve for at least two more years."
He calls on the remaining board members to "honour the pledge" made when they were appointed: that their terms would end not later than two years after their appointment. "Resign. It is the right thing to do," he writes.
And as the last nail in the coffin, it has been revealed that the recently elected ICANN At Large members will not have a vote at the organisation`s AGM, to be held in Los Angeles next week.
Court cases
Thrown into the mix of discontent are two court cases. Afternic.com dropped its lawsuit against ICANN in July, after the organisation purportedly refused to allow Afternic.com to register Web addresses. Start-up company RegLand is suing for defamation and interference in its business, after ICANN purportedly called RegLand`s pre-registration business model a "fraud" and a "scam".
One must worry when the independent ruler of the Internet - a supposedly international resource - is taken to task by industry experts for defying its own rules, and the law and constitution of its founding country. One must worry when it has such close alliances with the US DOC, when it should be serving the interests of the international community. One must be worry when changes in tradition force Africa out of the decision process at the organisation`s AGM. And one should definitely be concerned at the secrecy with which the organisation operates.
The organisation has taken steps to ensure that it is not held accountable except to the DOC and Network Solutions.
I sincerely hope that ICANN never reaches a point of mismanagement where steps will have to be taken to regulate the authority. I also hope that if steps do need to be taken, ICANN will not prove to be too powerful to dethrone.
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