[governance] Re: [goverance] Your support for a petition

[Milton L Mueller]

> -----Original Message-----
> Unfortunately for sovereignty reasons i don't fully appreciate, though I
> am told it is so by many, governments can't pay a fee to a private US
> corporation in order to participate in an objection process on issues
> they believe are counter to their national policy, law or culture.

[Milton L Mueller] 
Oh, this is made-up nonsense by governments who are all puffed up with their imagined importance.
These people assign what is essentially a religious significance to "sovereignty" and use it as a get out of jail free card to do whatever they want to do whenever it's convenient - it's like saying "God made me do it" (or, more appropriately, "the devil made me do it")

The DNS is administered by a private corporation, just like, say, the IEEE administers certain technical standards. If you want to participate in IEEE standardization activities as a member, you pay a membership fee. End of story. 

Governments can and do pay fees to private corporations to dig ditches, receive telecom services, etc. 

Governments have a sovereign right to block domains at the national level. For them to claim they have a sovereignty interest in exercising a similar power over a global infrastructure, most of which is in private hands outside their jurisdiction, is self-evidently wrong. 

Only in this confused environment could they even begin to get away with such a claim. 

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