Question: How will ICANN be able do decide/function in an independant way (now and future) in front of very important financial interests ?

Nominee Replies

Winfried Schueller - posted on 2000-09-26 09:12:29 ICANNs structure shows how complex and various the interests of differnet stakeholders are. But only a financial independence allows an autarkic organization. Therefore it is very important that ICANN remains financially independent and that the way of financing itself is continued. How the budget of ICANN should be composed is up to ICANN and the financing parts of the organization. Jeanette Hofmann - posted on 2000-09-21 15:44:49 Corporate interests are less homogeneous than one may think. If the economic stakeholders are clever, they are themselves concerned about transparent and fair decision-making processes - and be it only to avoid potential advantages of competitors. You may think, this is all theory. It's not. The Internet Engineering Task Force, the Net's main standard setting body, is built on this idea. So far, it seems to work. To be sure, the conflict between domain names and trademarks is a counter example. In this case, corporate interests form indeed a powerful force. I don't think, though, that they will succeed to set the rules for the entire name space. What I find more worrying at present is the so-called dormant authority of the US government. The US government claims the right to terminate its contract with ICANN under certain circumstances. No other government exerts a similar degree of authority on the Internet. In my view, such a monopoly bears a serious risk of abuse. Alf Hansen - posted on 2000-09-21 01:52:39 By always to focus on its limited scope, the names and the numbers. When ICANN has proven to be a stable organisation meeting the White Paper requirements, the US Government will give the ultimate control over to ICANN's new owners in the private sector. The new owner structure must be designed in a way that special groups and special financial interests are not able to take over the control of ICANN. I assume that there must be some experts on international organisation in the private sector, who can give us some guidance on how to do this. I think the US Government has shown great responsibility by not giving ICANN away until a new stable owner structure is in place.