[ncdnhc-discuss] ICANN Reform: Role of ITU

[Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law]

I think the anology breaks down at the end.

ICANN does not assign IP#s.  It (arguably) delegates the assignments to
RIRs. (Arguably, since they pre-date it and ICANN has almost no numbers to
give, it doesn't actually do anything except collect fees for preventing
too many new RIRs from springing up and competing with the incumbents.)

And, last I heard, ICANN does not assign domain names.  It delegates the
assignments to registries. 

One could say that ICANN assigns gTLDs.  This should end. It should
delegate the power to make assignments something like it does for IP#s.



On Thu, 2 May 2002, Hill, Richard wrote:

> With reference to ITU, Marc Schneiders has written: "You do not let an organization in the hands of bicycle sellers set rules about the use of cars."
> I'm not sure how to compare cars and bicycles with telecommunications.
> But I do know that most of the physical infrastructre on which the Internet runs is built and operated on the basis of ITU-T Recommendations.  For example, most PKI infrastructures are based on X.509.  And the "local loop" that still provides most of the "last mile" connectivity for most people is based on ITU-T Recommendations.  Etc.
> In terms of physical analogies, I suppose that it might be more appropriate to compare telecommunications with the road system.  If that analogy is valid, most of the "roads" are built and operated on the basis of ITU-T Recommendations.  "Cars" (packets) are build and operated on the basis of IETF RFCs.  "License plate numbers" for some types of traffic are coordinated by ITU-T (phone numbers), "license plate numbers" for other types of traffic are assigned by ICANN (IP addresses and domain names).
> Best,
> Richard
> 
> -----------------------------------------
> Richard Hill
> Counsellor, SG2
> International Telecommunication Union
> Place des Nations
> CH-1211 Geneva 20
> Switzerland
> tel: +41 22 730 5887
> FAX: +41 22 730 5853
> Email: richard.hill at itu.int
> Study Group 2 email: tsbsg2 at itu.int
>  
> 
> 
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> 

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