Should ICANN be held more accountable?

I read a great opinion piece by blogger Eileen Yu this morning about the Affirmation of Commitments (AOC) and ICANN. She argues that while the AOC has diversified Internet leadership, it does nothing to hold ICANN accountable.

Total investment in the web today is many times what is what in 1998 when the agency was founded. More people have Internet connections then ever. One would think that given ICANN’s increased responsibilities, it would be held more accountable. Instead, it has been turned loose.

I personally do not trust ICANN to act in the best interest of netizens. Time and time again it has shown its partiality towards corporate interests, and its inability to keep order. We need a government framework for the web that isn’t so biased.

Photo | Flickr

ICANN: "We have always been independent."

Now that the JPA has expired and ICANN’s ties with the government have essentially been cut, the organization has declared that nothing has changed and that it will continue to operate exactly as it has in the past.

Brad White, director of media affairs at ICANN, stated that while many have viewed the JPA as an end to government control over ICANN, there never was federal involvement in the organization’s affairs. “We have always been independent,” he said.

In this case, I would have to say that ICANN is right. While many foreign interests viewed the JPA with disdain, the American government never had direct control over the agency. So far the new Affirmation of Commitments has been popular with industry experts, but it is not a document of “ICANN independence.”

Source | Total Telecom

Photo | Flickr

Vint Cerf backs Affirmation of Commitments

Vint Cerf, a man widely considered to be the “Father of the Internet,” came out in support of the new Affirmation of Commitments (AOC) between the U.S. government and ICANN.

He said in a statement:

The Affirmation of Commitments by ICANN and DOC fulfills a long-standing objective of the original formation of ICANN: to create an organization that can serve the world’s interest in a robust, reliable and interoperable Internet.

Cerf has long been a supporter of ICANN.

Source | CRN
Photo | Flickr