African ccTLD operators careful to avoid ICANN

Most domain extension operators around the world, especially American TLDs, work with ICANN on some level, but a recent InfoWorld article shows that most African ccTLDs do not wish to work with the California organization, opting not to join its Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO).

Many of these domain registries are afraid to do so because of ICANN’s ties with the United States government. Many also misunderstand the requirements for joining. According to Vika Mpisane, head of the Africa Top Level Domain Organization (AfTLD):

Some African ccTLDs have kept away from the ccNSO because of the whole controversy of the ICANN Joint Partnership Agreement with the U.S. government. I get a sense there’s a slowly growing discomfort amongst some African governments with the continuing U.S. oversight over ICANN.

Compared to the rest of the world, Africa’s domain registration system is far behind. Most of its ccTLDs do not have an automated registration process, and may be subject to intervention from government officials. As more and more people from this region connect to the web, however, things are sure to change.

Photo | unseenob