[Air-l] INTERNET GOVERNANCE PROJECT: "What to Do About ICANN"

********************************************************* The Internet Governance Project announces a new policy analysis: "WHAT DO TO ABOUT ICANN: A PROPOSAL FOR STRUCTURAL REFORM" www.InternetGovernance.org ********************************************************** The authors analyze how ICANN exercises governmental powers without possessing corresponding mechanisms for accountability. They propose three accountability mechanisms: 1. Creation of an international oversight body to replace US oversight of ICANN 2. Restoration of ICANN's global elections 3. Decentralization of the Internet root zone and coordinated management between ICANN and the ITU. The paper is available at the Internet Governance Project site: http://www.internetgovernance.org The executive summary is below. This analysis will be discussed in an on-line forum to be held on April 22, 2005. Additional details to be announced. The Internet Governance Project is an interdisciplinary consortium of academics comprised of: Dr. Milton Mueller, Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies Dr. Hans Klein, Associate Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Public Policy Dr. John R. Mathiason, Adjunct Professor, Syracuse University Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Dr. Lee McKnight, Associate Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies Dr. Marc Holitscher, Lecturer, Institut für Politikwissenschaft der Universität Zürich Dr. Derrick L. Cogburn, Assistant Pofessor, Syracuse University, School of Information Studies ### Executive Summary "WHAT DO TO ABOUT ICANN: A PROPOSAL FOR STRUCTURAL REFORM" by Hans Klein and Milton Mueller With the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunisia quickly approaching, and with the work of the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) well underway, it is time to identify concrete policy options for Internet governance. Any initiatives in this area must address the criticisms that have been made of ICANN. Although the international community has defined “Internet governance” in a way that goes beyond ICANN’s control of domain names and addresses, ICANN nonetheless remains central to many issues. Here we propose a series of structural reforms for it. The proposals here are designed to address the most important criticisms that have been made of ICANN. These criticisms include: * Concerns about unilateralism by the US Government in its control of the DNS root and its supervision of ICANN. * Dissatisfaction with ICANN’s Government Advisory Committee (GAC), where governments have only advisory powers. * The perception that ICANN’s governance model does not properly balance the interests of developed and developing countries and suppliers and users. * Concerns about the relations between ICANN, country code top level domain administrators (ccTLDs), and national governments. * The overall perception that ICANN lacks legitimacy. To address these issues, this paper proposes the following reforms for ICANN: 1) Limits on power and internationalized oversight. A legally-binding international agreement narrowly defining ICANN’s powers and replacing US Government supervision with internationalized supervision . This would allow abolition of ICANN’s Government Advisory Committee. 2) Democratization. Reinstatement and strengthening of the At Large membership of ICANN, especially a return to election of the At Large Board members and the granting of voting rights on ICANN’s GNSO to At Large representatives. 3) Competition. Coordinated sharing of responsibilities between ICANN and the ITU in a way that would allow ccTLD managers and IP address users a choice of alternative governance arrangements. See full analysis at: http://www.internetgovernance.org ###