NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Re: [IP] EU urges Internet governance revamp
----- Forwarded message from Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com> ----- Date: Mon, 4 May 2009 09:24:14 -0700 From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com> Subject: Re: [IP] EU urges Internet governance revamp To: David Farber <dave@farber.net> Dave, Without getting into the specifics of the EU's complaint, I believe it's very important to note that many of us in the community feel that a fetish-like concentration on opening up more TLDs is counterproductive and diverts attention from much more critical Internet issues. There is every evidence that as more TLDs appear the main result is extortion-like attempts to force protective registrations by existing firms in the new top level domains (whether they really want to or not), and an *increase* in the value of dot-com since it stands out even more in the public's mind against the clutter of new TLDs. Also, to suggest that dot-ex-ex-ex was derailed merely by "right wing politicians" is totally erroneous. There were many elements of the community -- including free speech advocates and even the adult entertainment industry at large, who were opposed. My view of this was explained in: Open Letter: Why "Dot-Ex-Ex-Ex" is for Chumps http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000152.html --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren@vortex.com Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein - - - On 05/04 12:00, David Farber wrote: > > > Begin forwarded message: > > From: dewayne@warpspeed.com (Dewayne Hendricks) > Date: May 4, 2009 8:43:43 AM EDT > To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy@warpspeed.com> > Subject: [Dewayne-Net] EU urges Internet governance revamp > > EU URGES INTERNET GOVERNANCE REVAMP > > The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the > body in charge of assigning Internet addresses such as .com and .net, > should be shorn of its US government links and made fully independent, > the European Union's information society chief said on Monday. ICANN is a > not-for-profit organization set up in 1998 but operates under the aegis > of the U.S. Department of Commerce, a set-up that raises concerns for > some as the Internet is seen as belonging to a wider constituency. > Pressure in the past on ICANN from right-wing politicians to stop .xxx > from becoming a domain name for pornography, worried some policymakers. > ICANN's operating agreement with the U.S. government expires at the end > of September. > > <http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE54322V20090504> > > Courtesy of the Benton Foundation <http://www.benton.org> > RSS Feed: <http://www.warpspeed.com/wordpress> > > > > > ------------------------------------------- > Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now > RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ > Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com ----- End forwarded message -----