[AfrICANN-discuss] ICANN be independent

[Dr Yassin Mshana]

Many issues of specific interest coming are up. I tend to wonder how and who
advises on such global issues.
Is there any room for a discussion? I hope there will be...

Yassin


2009/9/24 Anne-Rachel Inné <annerachel at gmail.com>

> Hi Tim,
> No, it is not posted and will not be until I believe next week.
> Apparently The Economist found a source that would share considerable
> detail on 'the Affirmation".
>
> Was miffed too :-).
> ar
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 6:09 PM, McTim <dogwallah at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> HI,
>>
>> Is the "Affirmation" published yet?
>>
>> I can't find it online.
>> --
>> Cheers,
>>
>> McTim
>> "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route
>> indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 7:26 PM, annerachel <annerachel at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Regulating the internet
>>> ICANN be independent
>>>
>>> Sep 24th 2009
>>> From *The Economist* print edition
>>> America is poised to loosen its control over cyberspace
>>>
>>> FORTY years ago this month American academics sent the first message over
>>> the ARPANET, a military network that was the precursor of today’s internet.
>>> A legacy of those efforts is that the American government continues to
>>> control the internet’s underlying technology—notably the system of
>>> allocating addresses. This is about to change, albeit slightly.
>>>
>>> For the past decade America has delegated some of its authority over the
>>> internet to a non-profit organisation called the Internet Corporation for
>>> Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)—an arrangement other countries have
>>> complained about, both because they have little say in it and because
>>> ICANN’s management has occasionally proved erratic. ICANN’s latest mandate
>>> is due to expire on September 30th. The day before, a new accord is planned
>>> to come into effect, whereby America will pass some of its authority over
>>> ICANN to the “internet community” of businesses, individual users and other
>>> governments.
>>>
>>>  Previous agreements had maintained close American oversight over ICANN
>>> and imposed detailed reforms, but the latest document, called an
>>> “affirmation of commitments”, is only four pages long. It gives ICANN the
>>> autonomy to manage its own affairs. Whereas prior agreements had to be
>>> renewed every few years, the new one has no fixed term.
>>>
>>> The agreement sets up oversight panels that include representatives of
>>> foreign governments to conduct regular reviews of ICANN’s work in four
>>> areas: competition among generic domains (such as .com and .net), the
>>> handling of data on registrants, the security of the network and
>>> transparency, accountability and the public interest—the only panel on which
>>> America will retain a permanent seat. But there are no penalties if ICANN
>>> fails to heed its new overseers short of a termination of the accord.
>>>
>>> The changes at ICANN come at a time when the number of addresses is set
>>> to expand dramatically. Next year ICANN plans to allow the creation of many
>>> more domains. There are currently 21 generic ones in addition to the 280
>>> country suffixes (such as .uk for Britain). ICANN also intends to authorise
>>> domain names in other scripts, which will allow entire web addresses to be
>>> written in languages such as Chinese and Arabic.
>>>
>>> All this is controversial. Firms that have already spent a fortune to
>>> protect their brands online fear that the expansion will create a huge legal
>>> quagmire. Some American politicians are backing calls from trademark holders
>>> to call it off. Yet the firms that register new addresses support new
>>> domains. There are nearly 200m internet addresses in use (see chart), which
>>> are thought to generate more than $2.5 billion a year in renewal fees. New
>>> domains will add to that.
>>>
>>> The new set-up at ICANN will not placate countries such as China, Russia
>>> and Iran that want America to relinquish control entirely. However ICANN
>>> runs itself, it cannot alter the basic piping of the internet without
>>> America’s approval under another agreement that lasts until 2011. Even then,
>>> that is unlikely to change.
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> AfrICANN mailing list
>>> AfrICANN at afrinic.net
>>> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> AfrICANN mailing list
>> AfrICANN at afrinic.net
>> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Anne-Rachel Inne
>
> _______________________________________________
> AfrICANN mailing list
> AfrICANN at afrinic.net
> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann
>
>


-- 
c/o DFID-Sierra Leone
5 Off Spur Road
Wilberforce
Freetown
SIERRA LEONE

Skype: yassinmshana1

Mobile:+23278508042
Fax:  (+232) 22235769
Do You really NEED TO PRINT THIS?
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/africann/attachments/20090924/25a29289/attachment.htm