CircleID

I think that the main problem with ICANN is that they have little actual power. It's kind of like Moses and the Ten Commandments- yes, they can make rules, but when it comes to making people follow them, the consequences of disobeying are rather weak.

It leaves ICANN in the position of offering suggestions instead of orders.

That's why the dustup with Verisign went on so long.

This article is based on incorrect premises.

First, the article asserts that "ICANN is an experiment in deliberative, rather than 'democratic' or 'representative,' policymaking."

Second, it asserts that ICANN is a "coordinator of technical resources".

As to the first point: I was there at the birth of ICANN.  And I find
history to be quite different: ICANN was explicitly to be a body that
included the public.  The US Dep't of Commerce coerced the promise
from ICANN that there would be significant and meaningful public
participation in ICANN's decision making apparatus.  That promise remains unfulfilled.

As for the distinction between "deliberative" and "'democratic' or
'representative'": What can that mean except as a euphemism to say
that ICANN ought to be a closed, self-perpetuating oligarchy that
reigns by fiat rather than by the will of the community of internet
users?

It is sad to see the resurrection of the claim that ICANN supervises
technical matters.  This contradicts the statements by ICANN to the
IETF that ICANN has neither the desire nor the power to oversee
technical matters of the DNS root servers or IP address allocation.
Except for the single matter of internationalized domain names, ICANN
has always engaged in matters of business and economic regulation of
the internet, and has evaded acts that might be construed as having a
technical component.

This article is yet another bucket of skim-milk thin whitewash that
tries to hide the underlying truth that ICANN has become a sick
organization serving no publicly beneficial purpose and acting to
enrich its "stakeholders" by controlling entry into the domain name
marketplace and by inhibiting innovation where that innovation could
harm the perceived financial interests and business positions of those
"stakeholders."

ICANN's failure to ensure the stable operation of the DNS roots and
the IP address allocation systems leaves governments, businesses, and
the community of internet users with no responsible body that can be
held accountable to secure the reliable, predicable, and stable
operation of core internet infrastructures.

Is it time for outside forces to step in and rebuild ICANN from the
foundation on up?