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Chehade outlines five ways ICANN could die

Kevin Murphy, October 7, 2015, 14:46:20 (UTC), Domain Policy

Aarrgh! We’re all going to die!!!!1
ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade has outlined five ways in which the internet could fall to pieces if the IANA transition fails, and they all seem really horrible.
Chehade presented the list at a telephone meeting of leaders of ICANN supporting organizations and advisory committees yesterday.
I don’t know what was said yet, but I can guess the tone from one of Chehade’s accompanying slides:

5 Risks we face if the IANA Stewardship Transition is Delayed/Fails:
I. ICANN’s community may fracture or fray slowly, becoming divided, acrimonious, bitter — potentially risking ICANN’s stability, effectiveness — and impacting the participation of global stakeholders
II. The technical operating communities using IANA may go separate ways, with the IETF and the Numbering communities choosing to take their business elsewhere — ending the integrity of the Internet’s logical infrastructure
III. Governments (encouraged by G77) may lead an effort starting at this year during the WSIS review to shift Internet Governance responsibilities to a more stable and predictable inter-governmental platform
IV. Key economies that shifted positions since NTIA’s announcement in March 2014 may reverse their support for ‘one Internet’ logical infrastructure coordinated by ICANN
V. The resilience and effectiveness of the multistakholder model will be questioned by those seeking solutions to the emerging Internet Governance issues in the economic and societal layer (e.g. cyber security, trade, privacy, copyright protections, etc.)

Judging by the slides, ICANN reckons that the community needs to have its transition proposal delivered by December, if ICANN is to meet the current September 30, 2016 transition deadline.
There are a whole host of sessions devoted to the transition at the forthcoming public meeting in Dublin.
The transition process is currently in a very tricky spot because the ICANN board of directors does not agree with the community proposals to restructure ICANN.

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Comments (5)

  1. Katie Schroder says:
    October 8, 2015 at 6:15 am

    I’ve never been to a large ICANN meeting that wasn’t exactly like risk 1

    Reply
  2. R. Funden says:
    October 8, 2015 at 12:34 pm

    “50 Ways to kill Your ICANN”
    The problem is all inside your head
    Fadi said to me
    The answer is easy if you
    Take it logically
    I’d like to help you in your struggle
    To be free
    There must be fifty ways
    To kill your ICANN
    He said it’s really not my habit
    To intrude
    Furthermore, I hope my meaning
    Won’t be lost or misconstrued
    But I’ll repeat myself
    At the risk of being crude
    There must be fifty ways
    To kill your ICANN
    Fifty ways to kill your ICANN
    [CHORUS:]
    You Just skip out the policy track, Jack
    Make a new transition plan, Stan
    You don’t need to be coy, Roy
    Just get yourself free
    Hop on the bus, Gus
    You don’t need to discuss much
    Just drop off the IANA keys, Lee
    And get yourself free
    He said it grieves me so
    To see you in such pain
    I wish there was something I could do
    To make you smile again
    I said I appreciate that
    And would you please explain
    About the fifty ways
    He said why don’t we both
    Just sleep on it tonight
    And I believe in the morning
    You’ll begin to see the light
    And then he looked at me
    And I realized he probably was right
    There must be fifty ways
    To kill your ICANN
    Fifty ways To kill your ICANN
    [CHORUS]

    Reply
  3. Antony Van Couvering says:
    October 8, 2015 at 4:29 pm

    Ever since he first started, Fadi has warned us that the Internet will fracture if he didn’t get his way. I asked him at a public forum meeting to stop saying this because it was ludicrous and he immediately (in front of the board and everyone else) asked me who was saying such things (as if he’d find that bad staff person and discipline him or her), and I answered, “you.” Because this has always been his method and it’s nonsense.
    The Internet is already fractured (China) and yet it keeps going. There is real value in a unified root, which we have. But there is not necessarily a real value in a centralized command-and-control center, which ICANN wants, and which it claims is the same thing as a unified root. The only thing that needs to be in one place, under one command, is IANA, which is why ICANN is grasping at it so desperately.
    Antony

    Reply
  4. and another voice says:
    October 9, 2015 at 3:18 pm

    Perhaps the greatest reason that the Board is at odds with the community, is because the community does not lose their prestigious position or pay in a restructuring.
    Its the greatest open secret, yet ICANN lives in denial. The community is fed up of the Mafioso mentality of ICANN. The leadership has done has lost its way, despite the urging of the community to change their tactics. ICANN wants broad scope of control, but doesn’t want to be held accountable for the individual segments of that scope. How many times have we been to ICANN only to hear every urgent topic be tabled or simply ignored. When you are having meetings about the meetings instead having meetings about the critical issue, you are indeed incompetent and a failure.
    ICANN, by simple fact that they accomplish almost nothing because of their bureaucracy makes its own profound statement that the Registry and Registrars can get along just fine while ICANN does nothing.

    Reply

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