PAB Critics Decry New Net Government

From: Sascha Ignjatovic (sascha@isoc.vienna.org)
Date: Fri Oct 09 1998 - 16:11:04 PDT


take notice
                    At Wednesday's meeting of a House science
                    subcommittee, Commerce Department
                    administrator Becky Burr predicted that ICANN
                    will be adopted within two weeks.

http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/15482.html

                    Critics Decry New Net Government
                    by Niall McKay

                    10:40 a.m. 8.Oct.98.PDT
                    While US government officials spent Wednesday
                    reviewing the guts of the new organization that
                    will govern the future of the Net, critics spent the
                    day grousing that it's just exchanging one set of
                    problems for another.

                    In their eyes, the Internet Corporation for
                    Assigned Names and Numbers comes up short in
                    a number of areas, including addressing
                    civil-liberties issues and accommodating public
                    access to its workings. Critics also would like the
                    scope of powers of ICANN's nine-member board
                    to be spelled out more clearly.

                    "There is no accountability," said Karl Auerbach,
                    a founder of the Boston Group, a grassroots
                    coalition of netizens concerned that ICANN is not
                    as democratic as the Net it represents.

                    "Rather, the ... proposal ends up as a closed
                    body of self-interested entities who can exclude
                    others and who perpetuate their hold over Internet
                    policy."

                    At Wednesday's meeting of a House science
                    subcommittee, Commerce Department
                    administrator Becky Burr predicted that ICANN
                    will be adopted within two weeks. Legislators,
                    however, say they'll be entertaining additional
                    comments on the proposal before signing off on
                    anything.

                    "I am holding the record open for supplemental
                    questions and comments," said Mississippi
                    Republican Charles Pickering, who chairs the
                    committee. Presidential technology adviser Ira
                    Magaziner said this will be an opportunity for
                    legislators to hear from ICANN's critics.

                    "We are nearly there, but we still need a
                    substantial amount of discussion," Magaziner
                    said. "These hearings are an opportunity for the
                    committee to hear firsthand the progress made so
                    far."

                    Magaziner anticipates objections from groups
                    such as the Electronic Freedom Foundation,
                    which claims that ICANN contains no provisions
                    safeguarding civil liberties on the Net. Legislators
                    can also expect to hear from the Boston Group,
                    which will be demanding strict accountability from
                    the successor to the Internet Assigned Numbers
                    Authority.

                    Jon Postel, the Internet's current guardian in his
                    role as head of IANA, submitted the fifth draft for
                    ICANN to the White House last Friday. It
                    contained his choices for an interim nine-member
                    board of directors.

                    But that didn't sit well with those who say the
                    whole process has been murky and that it leaves
                    Postel in the position of anointing his own
                    successor.

                    "I do not feel that the Postel proposal should be
                    considered as a fait accompli," said Ellen Rony,
                    co-author of the Domain Name Handbook. "There
                    is a significant number of the IFWP community
                    that fell that the open process shut down in
                    August."

                    If the proposal is adopted in its current form,
                    Postel's interim directors will chart ICANN's
                    course, then select their own successors. The
                    permanent board will then administer ICANN with
                    input from supporting organizations such as the
                    Internet Engineering Task Force.

                    The Boston Group would prefer that ICANN
                    become a democratic organization whose
                    members elect all or part of the board. Auerbach
                    panned the "autocratic" process that created
                    ICANN.

                    "The IANA process involved no discussions, no
                    negotiations, no give and take, no compromises
                    -- at least not with anyone other than [Network
                    Solutions]," he said.

                    Many of the so-called Internet stakeholders who
                    have been involved in the process share
                    Auerbach's view. The only obvious way to voice
                    an opinion is through the practically unknown
                    New-IANA bulletin board.

                    "There needs to be a more public dialog about
                    the creation that will play a key role in the future
                    of all our lives," said Alexander Fower, public
                    affairs officer for the Electronic Freedom
                    Foundation.

                    The EFF is concerned that ICANN has no built-in
                    provisions for addressing civil-liberties issues.
                    The group wants the new government to adopt the
                    United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human
                    Rights.

                    "[The declaration] states that everyone has the
                    right to freedom of opinion and expression, and
                    the right to impart information and ideas through
                    any medium and regardless of frontiers," said
                    Fowler, quoting directly.

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