WIPO and ICANN are pawns of Big Business and Big Government

["John D. Goodspeed" <John@Annapolis.Net>]

We, the actual Internet Community, need to move quickly to circumvent
centralized control over the Internet. The ICANN and its WIPO advisors will
not be able to resist the combined powerful interests of Big Government and
Big Business.

The ICANN will become the proxy by which Big Government and Big Business
control the Internet.

ICANN / DNSO / WIPO and all of their respective subcommittees are already
nothing more than the pawns of Big Government and Big Business. Complete
with an already well ingrained "we know what is best for the Internet and
for the greater public good" attitude.

We need to begin discussions on how we can effectively move away from a
centralized and highly compromised form of Internet Management.

I still have not seen any effective arguments as to why we need centralized
management. The arguments for centralized management seem to be:

1) It will make the Internet a safe place for electronic commerce.
2) It will protect Big Business trademark owners.
3) It will make the Internet a safe place for average citizen viewers.
4) It will help Government to control "naughty" names and ideas.
5) It will allow promulgation of proper Internet Usage Policies

Are these control strategies really in the worlds best interest in the long
run?

Are Disney's Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck trademarks more important than the
right to unabridged free speech, commentary and idea exchange?

Is it best for a repressive government to have control of its ccTLD to the
exclusion of alternative forms of thought?

Do we really want WIPO and ICANN to "protect" us from "illegal",
"infringing" or "naughty" domain name usage?

Do we really want some worldwide body of narrowly elected or self appointed
intellectuals deciding what the "Proper Uses" of the Internet are?

I think the answer to all of these questions is an emphatic NO.

If we start now, we just might be able to thwart the WIPO / ICANN process.


John D. Goodspeed