House Leaders Urge Preservation Of ICANN Role (US)

[Milton L Mueller]

Thanks for sending it, Robert. I hadn't seen it before. 
A few reactions below:

> -----Original Message-----
> 
> (US Congress) House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John
> Dingell and ranking member Joe Barton joined 14 other colleagues on
> Tuesday in sending a letter to Commerce Secretary Gutierrez praising
> the administration's continued oversight of the international entity
> charged with administering the Internet.

I wonder which business lobbyists were gunning for this. I suspect IPR
and some major US-based registrars. Both are unhappy with ICANN for
different and completely contradictory reasons, and both seem to
foolishly think that they can get exactly what they want if it stays
under the thumb of DoC.

> The lawmakers also asked the Commerce Department to comment on the
> possibility of an overseas relocation of the Internet Corporation for
> Assigned Names and Numbers, which is currently based in Marina Del
> Ray, Calif. Rumors have swirled in recent years that some foreign
> government and industry stakeholders want ICANN's headquarters to move
> to Brussels.

Oh great. Let's bring in the US-EU rivalry. If it moves to Brussels it
will be under EU control, right?

> The concern comes as ICANN's leaders gradually try to transition the
> coordination of technical functions of the Web to the private sector.
> "Any change that threatens the important U.S. role in promoting U.S.
> commercial and free speech principles on the Internet can only hurt
> the consumers and businesses that count on this network every day,"
> they wrote.

This one gets me hot under the collar. What in the h*** has the U.S.
ever done to promote freedom of expression via ICANN? On the contrary,
they have persistently refused to acknowledge it as a principle
underpinning ICANN's regime, since 1997. And the most overt and direct
interference of the US in ICANN's affairs was in relation to the .xxx
affair, which was an act of censorship.  

> The letter requests a response to a handful of questions about ICANN's
> future within two weeks time.

Stay tuned.