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<h2 class="posttitle"> ICANN CEO Wants To Shift “Centre Of Gravity”
Away From US </h2>
<small>Published on 9 April 2013 @ 1:20 am</small>
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<p>Intellectual Property Watch</p>
<p>By Monika Ermert for <em>Intellectual Property Watch</em></p>
<p>In an effort to improve internationalisation, the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will open hubs
in Singapore and Istanbul, to serve the Asia-Pacific and Europe,
Middle East and Africa respectively. ICANN’s headquarters in Los
Angeles will become the hub serving the Americas.</p>
<p>The hubs shall share responsibilities for all aspects of ICANN
work, CEO Fadi Chehade said at the <a
href="http://beijing46.icann.org/" target="_blank">46th ICANN
meeting</a> in Beijing.</p>
<p>ICANN leadership would work from the new hubs, and he himself
would rotate for a year. In order to shift ICANN’s “centre of
gravity” away from the United States, ICANN also will establish
local ICANN engagement centres, with the first such centre to be
established in Beijing. Not going to China would lead ICANN to
lose some of its legitimacy, Chehade said.</p>
<p>Observers interpreted the move partly as a reaction to the
tensions in the international community over internet governance,
and applauded the Chehade’s promotion for the multi-stakeholder
model. Yet at the meeting unfolding in Beijing, Chehade´s
practical support for that model was questioned by stakeholders
pointing to the last-minute and poorly consulted additions to the
much-debated application process for new generic top-level domains
(TLDs) under ICANN.</p>
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