.lightbulbUnderstanding Network Democracy


Analyzing ICANN


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MEDIA VISIONS. Journal

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> ICANN Supporting Organizations

Player consensus, but no real voice.

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The ICANN Bylaws provide for three Supporting Organizations (SO) to assist in reviewing and developing recommendations on Internet policy and structure in their specialized areas. (See Bylaws, Article VI.)  These bodies are intended to promote the development of Internet policy and encourage "international and diverse participation" in the technical management of the Internet.

Each Supporting Organization names three (3) Directors to the ICANN Board, . for a total of nine SO seats. SO Directors serve three-year terms, staggered from one to three years initially. No SO directors have been elected to the Board yet.

Says the ICANN website, "The Supporting Organizations will be the primary source of policy recommendations for matters lying within their specialized charters and will serve as advisory bodies to the Board according to the procedures set forth in the ICANN Bylaws."

Participation in the Supporting Organizations will be open to any individual or organization that meets the "reasonable minimum qualifications" proposed by the SO and ratified by the ICANN Board.  Each SO will adopt its own participation structures "appropriate for effective functioning."

Each SO should "establish equitable participation dues or other assessments" to cover all the costs associated with organizing and sustaining the work of the SO within the ICANN structure. The ideas is for each SOP to be self-supporting.

(Source: http://www.icann.org/sonew.htm)

Analysis: Supporting Organizations are expected to create themselves and cover all of their own costs, just for the opportunity of making recommendations to a board that's under no certain obligation to follow what the SO advices. More significantly, the Board does not need to obtain SO consent for its actions.

The three Supporting Organizations lack genuine power. They can debate and wrangle among themselves all they want, but when push comes to shove, no matter how effectively any SO might argue its case, the ICANN Board has the last word. Resistance is useless.

Despite the open consensus process favored among SO constituencies, the process actually undermines democracy by lending legitimacy to the dubious authority of ICANN itself, a fool's gamble in any gambit. The passions spent discussing the issues before the SOs distract us from this lack of democracy.

 

The ICANN Supporting Organizations:

. Protocol
Protocol Supporting Organization (PSO)

Works on the Internet Protocol (IP) technical standards enabling computers to exchange information and manage communications over the Internet.

Analysis: More technical than political, but much is at stake. Without global agreements to stay within the protocol parameters, the entire network can unravel, communications becoming unreliable. Taking responsibility for the seriousness of this task, the PSO is confronting massive work as the Internet goes broadband. Building a consensus regarding IP standards is not easy, and the board likely will accept all recommendations from this SO, but the board isn't obliged to do so.
. Address

Address Supporting Organization (ASO)

Concentrates on the system of IP addresses (such as 123.456.789) that uniquely identify each of the Internet's networked computers.

Analysis: Again, the work of this SO is more technical than political, however, the ASO is influential because the assignment of IP numbers remains the foundation for the entire domain name system, and goofs become very costly when critical communications are misrouted. One major challenge facing the ASO is expanding the IP address space as multitudes in developing nations begin logging onto the network. The Board likely will accept recommendations via the ASO, but the ICANN board isn't obligated. Their rules for following advice seem quite loose.
.Domain

Domain Names Supporting Organization (DNSO)

Focuses on the system of names used to identify numerical locations and resources.  The domain name system translates easy-to-remember names (like "icann.org") into IP numbers assigned to specific computers. Once constituted, Domain Names SO will be composed of a Names Council and General Assembly, each with Constituency Groups representing both competing and cooperating DNS interests.

Analysis: Politics up the Wazoo.
[SEE THE DNSO ANALYSIS IN THE NEXT SECTION]

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GET INFORMED & GET INVOLVED!
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analyzing
ICANN

Introducing ICANN

From gTLD
to ICANN

The ICANN Corporation
Advisory Committees

Supporting Organizations

The DNSO

Analysis Findings

The Recom-
mendations

action steps

Get Informed

Get Involved

network democracy
Analyzing
ICANN
Global Sense
Governance Voices
gTLD Links
DNS Players
DNS Articles
Esther Dyson Interview
Tom Paine

The Board does not need to obtain SO consent for its actions.

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Analyzing
ICANN

The committee that would be king.

Introducing ICANN
A threat to world democracy?

From gTLD-MoU to ICANN
A short course in power politics.

The ICANN Corporation
Presumed powers & responsibilities.

> Advisory Committees
.. Representation, but no real power.

> Supporting Organizations
.. Player consensus, but no real voice.

> The DNSO
.. Politics divert domain name players.

.................bell

Findings
Without a public mandate,
ICANN is illegitimate.

Recommendations
Let us ordain & establish a global Internet Constitution.

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ACTION STEPS:
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Get Informed
Links for more research.

Get Involved
The power of interactivity.

 


Understanding Network Democracy
Appendices to Global Sense

| Voices from the "Committees of Correspondence" |
. | gTLD-MoU Links | DNS Players.| DNS Articles |.
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| Esther Dyson Interview (pre-ICANN) | .

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.


analyzing
ICANN

Introducing ICANN

From gTLD
to ICANN

The ICANN Corporation
Advisory Committees

Supporting Organizations

The DNSO

Analysis Findings

The Recom-
mendations

action steps

Get Informed

Get Involved

Media Visions Journal
Media Visions Journal
A web magazine by journalist Ken Freed

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