Esther Dyson: Queen of The World

[Jay Fenello <Jay@Iperdome.com>]

Despite repeated charges of media bias in the 
continuing blackout of the real ICANN story, the 
vast majority of media outlets remain silent on 
this issue!

But word is slowly getting out.  In addition to
articles in the New York Times and Business Week,
here's the latest from ClickZ . . .

Excerpts from:
   http://www.searchz.com/Articles/0831994.shtml

Esther Dyson: Queen of The World
   By Dana Blankenhorn

The fact is that ICANN's work involves more than appointing some extra
registrars and setting them to work. The power to name is also the power to
un-name, and since Ms. Dyson took her new job, a lot of people have come to
recognize that.

I can bring all this home to you with one question: What should be the
rules under which someone gets, and keeps their domain?

Well, some folks are asking, you've created a rule, and a way to enforce
that rule, so haven't you actually built both a law and an enforcement
mechanism? And if you have a law against cyber-squatting, with a virtual
"death penalty" (taking away a name someone is using effectively removes
them from the web) why not apply it against other forms of behavior we
don't like?

Please, follow that last link, read what's behind it, and tremble. You've
got one law, you've got a process, and you've got a sentence. It was all
done with the mildest of intentions. But what you've also got there is the
beginnings of a world government, which can enforce all kinds of rules
simply by changing the contract you sign when you apply for a domain name.
And if ICANN won't do it, cyber-vigilantes will.

If ICANN chose it could ban pornography, simply by stripping such sites of
their names, it could enforce product safety standards, prevent the online
manipulation of stocks, and stop hate speech in its tracks. By simply
denying names to those who violate whatever strictures it chose, ICANN
could make the Internet a pure and beautiful place, where no one dared
violate any law for fear of virtual death!


Respectfully,

Jay Fenello
President, Iperdome, Inc.    770-392-9480
-----------------------------------------------
What's your .per(sm)?   http://www.iperdome.com 

"All truth passes through three stages.  First, it is 
ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, 
it is accepted as self-evident." (Arthur Schopenhauer)