[governance] Anti-Trust Complaint Filed Against ICANN, Registerfly

[Karl Auerbach]

John Levine wrote:

> but turning it into an anti-trust conspiracy featuring "ICANN
> Enterprises, Inc." and Verisign is silly.

I agree with you on absence of overt conspiracy part.  However, 
respected legal academics have looked at the ICANN situation and have 
concluded that there are substantial questions regarding the legality of 
ICANN as a place in which competitors and affected economic interests 
(trademark owners) gather to shape the marketplace; determine products, 
terms of sale, and prices; and decide what newcomers get the privilege 
of being vendors in that marketplace - i.e. a combination in restraint 
of trade.

It does seem true that the intensity of incumbent-protective internet 
regulation under ICANN is such that it is easier and faster to open up a 
new hospital or airline - ventures in which people can readily die - 
than to establish a new top level domain name registry.

This reflects one of the biggest problems in all of our efforts of 
internet governance: as long as we begin with the premise that there are 
pre-defined "stakeholders" then internet governance is likely to remain 
less as governance for the benefit of the public and more as a 
pre-captured regulatory system that protects the economic interests of 
those "stakeholders".

		--karl--
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