[governance] USG on ICANN - no movement here

[Milton L Mueller]

Thanks, Siavash, for your welcome dose of common sense and your factual
contribution to Levine's ideological gloss. What a contrast...

As I suggested in my earlier message, I am still wondering what is
"adult" about US DoC supervision. I certainly understand the
geopolitical motivation behind it, but I don't see the value add for the
Internet. 

Avri hit the nail on the head. The USG is reasserting its bargaining
position, and yes, it does hold a lot of the cards, but those facts
shouldn't change our perception of what is right nor should USG
stubbornness be allowed to undermine efforts to move in the direction of
what is right.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Siavash Shahshahani [mailto:shahshah at irnic.ir]
> Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2008 9:27 AM
> To: governance at lists.cpsr.org; John Levine
> Cc: governance at lists.cpsr.org; ian.peter at ianpeter.com
> Subject: Re: [governance] USG on ICANN - no movement here
> 
> 
> John,
> 
> > The US DOC are not stupid, and they have been extremely careful not
to
> > act in ways that would impinge on the sovereignty of other
countries,
> > so although there's been a certain amount of harrumphing on
principle
> > from some governments,
> 
> It's not only governments and matters of sovereignty and principle, it
> also has to do with the day to day operation of IANA. You may not
believe
> that a change of my fax number in IANA database(as a ccTLD
> operator)requires the non-trivial consent of DoC. But if you'd waited
six
> months to have just such a change realized or had waited 3 1/2 years
to
> have your IDN Language Table published in IANA Repository (something
that
> normally required 5 days), you'd know what I'm talking about. Why have
I
> kept quiet? Because I believe the ITU alternative is even worse. At
this
> time I think the best thing is to keep repeating and insisting that US
> govt politics should not in any way affect IANA services, and if they
do,
> then the USG is forfeiting whatever 'historical role' it claims to
have.
> Siavash
> ex-ALAC, .ir director
> 
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