[governance] How do ICANN's actions hurt the average Internet

[kpeters at tldainc.org]

       First of all, ANY honest question is the right question to ask...
       From my perspective, the biggest problems naturally lie in the  
handling of top-level domains and affect first those who would run  
them and secondly those who would register under them.
       ICANN's primary interest in the decision of what TLDs to carry  
and who should manage them appears to be who provides the best  
advantage to ICANN, not who would benefit from the effective operation  
of a TLD. As proof of this, look a the meeting where ICANN decided  
against honoring Atlantic Root Network, Inc.'s .BIZ that was already  
profitably operational outside of ICANN and its "sale" to the group  
who had paid lots of ICANN fees and gone through all their financial  
hoops and would, of course collect fees for ICANN from every domain  
registration. Several thousand people with .BIZ domains in the other  
roots were forced to move over to the new company and forfeit their  
placement and hosting and so forth under the previous system, not to  
mention it then costing more with the new people, all on ICANN's whim.
      Then, on the same day, they denied one of our members .WEB after  
he actually pulled out of the other roots and jumped through all the  
hoops and paid all the fees ICANN asked. The VERY weak excuse for this  
second decision, at that time, was that Chris Ambler's .WEB had rivals  
in other roots and ICANN did not want to pick one over the other. To  
this day, there is no .WEB, but there has never been any payment for  
lost rights and revenue to Atlantic Root Network for the clear theft  
of .BIZ. It leaves one to wonder if the .com people who pay almost all  
of ICANN expenses might have been justifiably afraid of a .WEB and  
lobbied against it behind closed doors. I can not prove that, but  
neither can I see any consistant logic in taking .BIZ from one group  
for another, but denying .WEB to Chris on the grounds another group  
was claiming it, also outside of ICANN.
     They lost me forever that day!!!
-Karl E. Peters
kpeters at tldainc.org
(912) 638-1638  (USA)

Quoting George Sadowsky <george.sadowsky at attglobal.net>:

> All,
>
> A considerable number of posts on this list seem to indicate that ICANN
> is prominent in many peoples' concerns regarding Internet governance.
> I'd like to pose the following question:
>
> "How do ICANN's actions (or inactions) disadvantage or hurt the average
> Internet user, who may have, but probably doesn't have, a domain name
> and/or a Web site?"
>
> Responses to this question would help to identify possible changes that
> could be made to improve ICANN's responsibility to act in the public
> interest with respect to Internet development.  Specific and succinct
> responses would be most useful to understand your point of view.
>
> I ask this question because I am mystified by the dissonance between
> the level of negative comment with respect to ICANN and the lack of
> specificity of the charges brought against the organization with
> respect to its impact on Internet users.
>
> If you believe that this is the wrong question to ask, why do you think
> so, and what question would you propose in place of it?  What is your
> response to your proposed question?  Again, specific and succinct
> responses would be most useful to understand your point of view.
>
> George Sadowsky




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