[governance] It's Time to Stop ICANN's Top-Level Domain (TLD)

[Ian Peter]

I hear all the arguments as to why we should support ICANN because it is
bottom up decision making, and because there are avenues for participation
for us little people. I have also heard all the arguments as to why new TLDs
open up competition and is exactly what we should be doing and what Jon
Postel wanted.

However, none of these alter the fact that the Internet has moved a lot
quicker than ICANN, and that the new TLDs will hinder rather than help
resource discovery.

Nor will they do anything positive for internet governance. It may lead to
the establishment of an industry similar to confectionery with endless
similar varieties, but that's about it - and that's hardly an internet
governance issue, rather an industry development issue.

That the establishment of so many tlds was supported by those whose fares to
icann meetings are supported by this development is not surprising.

The fact that a lemming like "bottom up" policy development of the industry
to feed its own expansion led to this conclusion does not make it any more
valuable for internet resource discovery or meaningful for internet
development.

Whatever you think about millions of tlds - it does nothing to aid resource
discovery and will only confuse it. It also has precious little to do with
internet governance.

Perhaps the end result will be that we evolve in a more sensible direction
and ICANN is just left doing nothing of relevance to internet governance.
But given that governments are devoting so much energy to ICANN as the
mechanism for psuedo internet governance, perhaps its all a subtle trap to
divert their attention from anything meaningful?

I think Mawaki's post raises some interesting questions.



Ian Peter


> From: Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu>
> Reply-To: <governance at lists.cpsr.org>, Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu>
> Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2010 10:29:37 -0400
> To: "governance at lists.cpsr.org" <governance at lists.cpsr.org>, Karl Auerbach
> <karl at cavebear.com>
> Subject: RE: [governance] It's Time to Stop ICANN's Top-Level Domain (TLD)
> 
> A recent IGP blog dealt with this argument.
> http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2010/10/20/4660721.html#comm
> ents 
> 
> I might add that the anti-new TLD argument is one that has been heard and
> aired repeatedly over the past ten years. New TLDs do not enjoy complete
> consensus (what does?) but within ICANN every conceivable pro and con argument
> has been heard and taken into account since 2006, and has led to an incredible
> complex regime. These last-ditch efforts to stall or stop show a lack of
> respect for ICANN process, and for bottom up policy development.
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Karl Auerbach [mailto:karl at cavebear.com]
>> Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 3:42 AM
>> To: governance at lists.cpsr.org
>> Subject: Re: [governance] It's Time to Stop ICANN's Top-Level Domain
>> (TLD)
>> 
>> Although I often agree with Lauren, in this case I do not.
>> 
>> His argument is essentially this:
>> 
>>   - Thing X can be used for ill purposes (among good purposes)
>> 
>>   - Therefore thing X must be banned.
>> 
>> Let's apply that to the internet:
>> 
>>    - The internet can be used for financial scams and ugly content.
>> 
>>    - Therefore the internet must be banned.
>> 
>> Oh that is so much fun, let's try it again:
>> 
>>    - Airplanes can be used to drop bombs.
>> 
>>    - Therefore airplanes must be banned.
>> 
>> We can use that silly logic over and over again and we'd end up in a
>> world in which everything from medicine to automobiles to food is
>> banned.
>> 
>> The faux logic forgets that almost everything is a balance of good and
>> bad.  And it also forgets that quite often the approach for dealing with
>> the bad is to do the obvious: deal with the bad and not ban the thing in
>> which the bad is ensconced.
>> 
>> --karl--
>> 
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