The Internet Corp. for Assigned Names
and Numbers is coming under new criticism from a group alleging the organization’s structure has much to do with its failures.
The People For Internet Responsibility, a
grassroots organization, criticized the group’s policies. However, it was quick to point out that much of the blame was due to historical factors, not its founders or leadership.
Calling ICANN’s solutions inadequate, PFIR placed the blame on structural
and historical factors, saying it believed ICANN’s directors were “genuinely
attempting to do the best possible job that they could with highly complex,
contentious, and thankless tasks.”
PFIR’s argument is essentially this: the group feels ICANN’s chemistry is
insufficient because of it’s ad-hoc, “make the rules up as we go” style of
regulation.
PFIR said that while this may have worked for ARPANET years ago, the
rapid-fire evolution of the current Net in conjunction with the oodles of
money swirling around in the new economy are making it impossible for an
organization whose methods are prone to winging it.
The group also disapproves of what it considers to be ICANN’s often too
controlling nature when it comes to the administration of domain names.
Moreover, it said it did not understand why ICANN chose to announce the
impending arrival of new top-level domains, but did not specify any details.
PFIR also staunchly criticized ICANN’s proposal to implement a $50,000
application fee payable by any entity that wishes to be the registrar for a
new top-level domain. The organization said this would exclude many
groups who are very capable of running a TLD, but do not have the cash
onhand.
PFIR Co-Founder Peter G. Neumann stressed Monday that the summary was not a
frontal attack on ICANN’s directors.
“We’re just at the beginning of a concept, which is saying that the current
ICANN process is not working the way it was intended to,” Neumann said.
“They’re trying. I think they’re doing a good job as far as where they’re
going. They’re much deeper issues. It’s not just domain names. It’s the
whole issue of where is this thing going. Is this the future of the world,
in some sense. At the moment there is no same, controlling force that is
keeping it on a steady keel.”
But, does PFIR offer a solution? The group said the Net and every business
and individual user connected to it would be better served by an
international organization with a balanced representation of interests, including governmental bodies and organizations, educational institutions,
and other enterprises.
This new group would be much more formal in structure and would
precisely-define delegations to represent a broad range of
concerns and interests. Among a few tenets PFIR said it would like to see
enacted would be that educational and non-profit research institutions and
focused public service groups should have a say towards the Net’s future as
well as billion-dollar for-profit
corporations.
“The wonderful thing about the Internet is that there is no controlling
organization,” Neumann said. “The problems from the Internet all arise from
the fact that there is no controlling organization; it’s a blessing and a
curse.”
An ICANN spokesman said the organization hadn’t seen the report and could not comment.
Co-Founder Lauren Weinstein said Monday that PFIR was concerned that ARPANET’s original ad-hoc ways of running things does not translate well for ICANN in the New Economy.
“The lack of structure makes it difficult when there is billions of dollars being spent in this industry,” Weinstein said.
Weinstein also said he couldn’t think of an equivalent in any sector that could be compared to the new organization he and Neumann have proposed.
“We are thinking in the broades
t possible terms,” Weinstein said. “To implement such a large global organization — I don’t know that there is a proper analogy because there are no other obvious organizations in the field of technology. This is relatively new.”
PFIR was founded in November 1999 by Weinstein, of Vortex Technology
in Woodland Hills, Calif. and Neumann, of SRI International in Menlo
Park, Calif. Weinstein worked at the UCLA lab which was the ARPANET’s
first site; Neumann worked at the second site, located at SRI.
ICANN last week met in Yokohama in Japan, where the 19-member board approved
additional suffixes to the existing TLDs. The group set a schedule for the
implementation of the names, with a target date of Dec. 31 for reaching new
agreements.
