US eases hold on ICAAN
p2pnet.net News:- A new three-year contract between the US government and Net overseeing organisation ICANN came into effect yesterday.
With an, "apparently significant halfway review point," both ICANN and the Department of Commerce say it’s a sign the US government, "has listened to worldwide criticism of its continued oversight role and has responded by providing ICANN with a new degree of autonomy," says The Register, going on:
"However, experts disagree, with one calling it ‘old wine in a new bottle’, and another barely concealing his frustration with an administration that promised eight years ago it would end its role but now has decided ‘we will have to wait another three years, at a minimum’."
Now, ICANN will no longer have to file reports with the department every six months.
Instead, says Ars Technica, "it will need to provide an annual report addressed to the ‘whole Internet community.’ In addition, the list of 25 milestones the organization needed to meet before being cut lose from Department of Commerce control has been removed from the new agreement."
Rather, Commerce will review, "ICANN’s process toward becoming a more stable organization with greater transparency and accountability in its procedures and decision making," according to the agreement, says the story.
Most controversially, it includes the "blinkered approach" to Who-is data for which US organisations have lobbied so hard in Washington, "but which the wider internet community disagrees with," states The Register.
"But the shift in emphasis is nonetheless significant. ICANN says: ‘ICANN will no longer have its work prescribed for it. How it works and what it works on is up to ICANN and its community to devise’."
But it’s precisely this, "frequent interaction with ICANN staff that enabled the Bush Administration to interfere with approval of the .xxx domain – something that led to rare public condemnation by the EU of a ‘clear case of political interference’," observes The Register.
Also See:
The Register – US government steps back from internet control, October 2, 2006
Ars Technica – US Commerce Department loosens grip on ICANN,October 1, 2006
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