On February 25 the Senate Commerce committee will be holding hearings related to ICANN. For Congress, the hearings will be a progress report on the IANA transition and the ICANN accountability process. Testimony will come from the Assistant Secretary of Commerce Larry Strickling, ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade, and business lobbyist...
It is asserted that ICANN was “purpose-built” to operate the IANA functions. This is only partly true. ICANN's original design, in which the IANA functions were a central aspect, was abandoned very quickly between 1999 and 2002. ICANN‘s first bylaws tried to create three Supporting Organizations, one for domains (DNSO),...
The sirens, if you recall your Greek mythology, used their beautiful voices to lure passing sailors eager to listen to them into rough waters and rocky reefs that destroyed their ships and drowned the men. A similar phenomenon is occurring now with the IANA transition. (The voices are not the...
The Singapore ICANN meeting (ICANN #52) is an inflection point in the IANA stewardship transition. The numbers and protocols processes have proceeded relatively smoothly, though not without minor hiccups, and reasonable proposals have been developed and are being reviewed. The names process, predictably, is taking longer. On the whole, the...
