Are we getting dealt a fair hand by Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers in regards to new top-level
domains that can compete with NSI’s dot com? Not according to Internet
analyst Milton Mueller, who says ICANN’s creation and the ensuing internet
domain name war has delayed the introduction of the new top-level domains.
In an article just published in info, the journal of policy,
regulation and strategy for telecommunications, information and media,
Mueller gives his own independent assessment of the first year of existence
for ICANN.
Mueller is concerned with the policy of private sector “self-regulation” of
internet names and numbers. He believes that self-regulation was not
actually a coherent policy, but merely a rhetorical device used by the
Internet Society “in a power struggle with Network Solutions Inc. (NSOL) to
legitimate and preserve its own control.”
ICANN isn’t the only group to hold the blame. Mueller is also critical of
the US government’s role in allowing the Internet Society to install
ICANN’s initial board. In essence, Mueller states, the U.S. government
“undermined ICANN’s capacity for consensus building.”
ICANN itself fell under a bit of government regulation when the US Commerce
Department decided to retain “policy authority” over the DNS root
indefinitely and imposed utility-style regulation upon Network Solutions’ wholesale
prices.
The article by Mueller, titled ICANN and internet governance: sorting
through the debris of ‘self-regulation’, is published in info, Vol 1,
No 6. For a copy of the article, or additional information, contact Colin Blackman.
