Legal Commentary

ICANN Reverts to Its Roots

By Professor University of Miami School of Law

[Only] Four ICANN Board members dissent in vote on NCSG charter. Milton Mueller tries to find a silver lining in this cloud — four dissents! out of fourteen votes! — but it’s pretty small.

By choosing to gut public participation — for that is the result that the ICANN staff has lead the Board into — ICANN makes a high-stakes bet about its future.

Will the Obama administration see this as proof that ICANN lacks the maturity to be trusted with increased independence? (One hopes.) Or will ICANN be able to sail under the radar and walk away with the Root while the staff keeps the ability to pay itself millions per year.

We’ll see.

Full post as published by Discourse.net on August 07, 2009 (boomark / email).