U.S. to Cede Its Oversight of Addresses on Internet - NYTimes.com: "The United States will give up its role overseeing the system of Web addresses and domain names that form the basic plumbing of the Internet, turning it over in 2015 to an international group whose structure and administration will be determined over the next year, government officials said on Friday...."
POLITICO.com: "...“We will not accept a proposal that replaces the NTIA role with a government-led or an intergovernmental solution,” Strickling [NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling] said in a conference call...."
U.S. Plans to Give Up Oversight of Web Domain Manager - WSJ.com: " . . . Some Silicon Valley executives support the move, which they view as inevitable in light of the concerns over the NSA disclosures. "I'm not sure they [U.S. government] have any choice," said Peter Schwartz, senior vice president of global government relations for software maker Salesforce.com Inc...."
But anyone who thinks this means clear sailing for ICANN, better think again --
US government to privatise the Internet’s domain name system: "... It isn’t clear yet what organization or groups will take over its responsibilities to maintain unique codes and numbering systems that are used in the technical standards that drive the Internet...."
"The move’s critics called the [U.S.] decision hasty and politically tinged, and voiced significant doubts about the fitness of ICANN to operate without U.S. oversight and beyond the bounds of U.S. law. “This is a purely political bone that the U.S. is throwing,” said Garth Bruen, a security fellow at the Digital Citizens Alliance, a Washington-based advocacy group that combats online crime. “ICANN has made a lot of mistakes, and ICANN has not really been a good steward.” Business groups and some others have long complained that ICANN’s decision-making was dominated by the interests of the industry that sells domain names and whose fees provide the vast majority of ICANN’s revenue. The U.S. government contract was a modest check against such abuses, critics said." (source: Washington Post )
U.S. to relinquish remaining control over the Internet - The Washington Post: ".... Concern about ICANN’s stewardship has spiked in recent years amid a massive and controversial expansion that is adding hundreds of new domains, such as dot-book, dot-gay and dot-sucks, to the Internet’s infrastructure. More than 1,000 new domains are slated to be made available, pumping far more fee revenue into ICANN. Major corporations have complained, however, that con artists already swarm the Internet with phony Web sites designed to look like the authentic offerings of respected brands...."
Internet administration to shift from U.S. to global stage - Erin Mershon and Jessica Meyers - POLITICO.com: " . . . ICANN recently embarked on a controversial expansion of the Internet’s domain-name system. The group is preparing to approve hundreds of new Web endings, like .clothing, .shop or .hospital, in the next year. Industry groups have criticized the program, saying it will increase the potential for cybersquatting and add to their costs....."
ICANN response here (to the US announcement).
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