[atlarge-discuss] RE: [TechNews.Com] U.S. Will Renew ICANN's Authority 2.0

["Jkhan" <Jkhan@MetroMgr.com>]

Jeff, I added the Washington Post technology news link to my "Favorites"
a few months ago. It is a good source for keeping up inside the beltway.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/technology/

A.K.A.: http://www.technews.com/


-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Williams [mailto:jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com] 
Sent: Friday, September 13, 2002 8:24 PM
To: dannyyounger@cs.com
Cc: atlarge-discuss@lists.fitug.de; Nancy J. Victory; Don Evans; cathy
Handley; gen full
Subject: Re: [atlarge-discuss] U.S. Will Renew ICANN's Authority

Danny and all stakeholders or other interested parties and members,

  URL please.  It would seem that the DOC/NTIA have not been
listening very well or have been employing only very selective
comments and statements as to events regarding ICANN's
Contract renewal.

DannyYounger@cs.com wrote:

> By David McGuire
> washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
> Friday, September 13, 2002; 5:41 PM
>
> The U.S. government will renew a California nonprofit's authority to
manage
> the Internet's global addressing system, a top Commerce Department
official
> said today.
>
> The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
manages the
> Internet's Domain Name System (DNS) under agreements with the U.S.
government
> that are up for renewal at the end of this month.
>
> "At this point we do anticipate that there will be an extension" of
ICANN's
> authority, Commerce Department Undersecretary Nancy Victory told
reporters in
> a conference call. Victory is the head of the Commerce Department's
National
> Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which
oversees
> ICANN.
>
> ICANN, based in Marina del Rey, has been criticized for failing to
involve
> the online public in its decisions, but Victory said she has been
encouraged
> by internal ICANN reforms. She added that new agreements with ICANN
would
> include provisions "designed to ensure that we continue progress
forward with
> the reform effort."
>
> Victory did not say when the renewal of ICANN's authority would be
completed,
> nor did she indicate how long it would run.
>
> ICANN President Stuart Lynn said the group is "in discussions with the
> Commerce Department right now about the precise shape" the agreements
will
> take.
>
> He added that ICANN would continue pushing to enact internal reforms.
"We've
> made good progress, but we haven't completed it. There's still work to
be
> done," Lynn said.
>
> Formed in 1998, ICANN was commissioned by the U.S. government to
inject
> competition into the domain name industry, which had been monopolized
by
> Internet addressing giant Network Solutions Inc. Networks Solutions
owned a
> government contract to operate the technical backbone of the DNS,
which was
> originally created by government-funded U.S. scientists.
>
> ICANN has accredited more than 100 new address retailers and approved
seven
> new globally available Internet domains that compete with dot-com,
dot-net
> and dot-org.
>
> Earlier this year, ICANN embarked on an internal reform effort, but
critics
> still complain that the reform plans don't give a meaningful voice to
> ordinary Internet users.
>
> Victory said that the ICANN "experiment" needs more time to succeed,
adding
> that while she is pleased with ICANN's reform efforts thus far, but
she is
> not yet fully satisfied.
>
> University of Miami Law Professor Michael Froomkin said he is not
surprised
> that the Commerce Department opted to renew the contract. "They don't
want to
> rebuild ICANN from scratch," he said.
>
> Froomkin, editor ICANNWatch.org, a Web site often critical of ICANN,
said it
> will be more interesting to see how much pressure the Commerce
Department
> exerts on ICANN to reform itself.
>
> Center for Democracy and Technology Policy Analyst Robert Courtney
agreed.
> "We've always sort of anticipated that the [memorandum of
understanding]
> would be renewed. We continue to hope for and continue to push for
some new
> provisions to be included in the MOU," Courtney said. The agreement
should
> clearly outline steps ICANN must take to improve its openness and
> transparency, Courtney said.
>
> Froomkin said that Victory's resolve will be key to ICANN's future.
"What
> matters is the will of the NTIA, what they put in the agreement is
less
> important," he said. "What matters more than anything else is when
NTIA is
> willing to draw a line in the sand and really mean it."
>
> Later this month, Victory will be part of the U.S. delegation at a
meeting of
> the International Telecommunications Union in Marrakech, Morocco. The
United
> States intends to oppose the ITU's efforts to participate more in
Internet
> regulation, Victory said.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: atlarge-discuss-unsubscribe@lists.fitug.de
> For additional commands, e-mail: atlarge-discuss-help@lists.fitug.de

Regards,
--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup - (Over 127k members/stakeholders strong!)
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng.
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Contact Number: 214-244-4827 or 972-244-3801
Address: 5 East Kirkwood Blvd. Grapevine Texas 75208



---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: atlarge-discuss-unsubscribe@lists.fitug.de
For additional commands, e-mail: atlarge-discuss-help@lists.fitug.de


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: atlarge-discuss-unsubscribe@lists.fitug.de
For additional commands, e-mail: atlarge-discuss-help@lists.fitug.de