Public interest groups and other Internet watchdogs on Monday denounced a proposal that would give the world's governments a greater say in how the Internet is run.
Under the plan to overhaul the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, representatives chosen by governments would replace ones directly elected by the Internet community at large.
The proposal, issued Sunday by ICANN president Stuart Lynn, would drop the US government's original objective of transitioning to the private sector the policy decisions over domain names and other issues.
Karl Auerbach, an ICANN board member often critical of his own organization, said Lynn's proposal goes in the wrong direction. "This is closing the door, clamming up and being more non-responsive to the public," Auerbach said.
The plan also creates the possibility that the huge US segment of the Internet might be unduly influenced by hostile foreign interests.
"I'm uncomfortable with any plan that would give totalitarian governments power to influence rules that would go into direct effect in the United States," said Michael Froomkin, a law professor at University of Miami.
ICANN was selected in 1998 to oversee Internet addressing policies, which had been the responsibility of the US government as the Internet's original developer. ICANN's decisions ultimately affect how people reach Web sites and what domain names they can have.
The organization has had a rocky history, facing criticisms that it is out of touch with the general Internet community and the needs of domain-name administrators outside the US.
Lynn's proposal amounts to throwing in the towel.
Efforts to create a new global democracy have bogged down work on such pressing matters as determining how best to settle domain name disputes and improve the security of key Internet infrastructure, Lynn said.
He said national governments -- not something ICANN could ever hope to create -- are ``the most evolved form of representation of the public interest'' -- though many of them are not democratic.
Getting governments involved could also help ICANN gain the respect of skeptical stakeholders, said Lynn.
The proposal also calls for more funding sources -- something possible as more Internet constituencies recognize ICANN's authority. Many managers of country-specific domain names have refused to pay dues, leaving ICANN short-staffed and unable to make decisions quickly.
The proposal increases the importance of a March 10-14 ICANN meeting in Accra, Ghana, where board members are to begin considering the overhaul, though they won't likely make any final decisions.
During a transition period, the US Commerce Department retains a veto over ICANN policies. Congress also could override them. Commerce spokesman Clyde Ensslin said it was too early to comment on the proposal's merits, but said the department supports any efforts by ICANN to evaluate how it could better fulfill its mission.
Few would dispute Lynn's conclusion that the current system is broken. The criticism is over whether his proposal goes too far.
"So far there's nothing in it to make us comfortable that ICANN's activities are going to be properly constrained and properly representative of the public's interest," said Alan Davidson, staff counsel with the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington.
Former ICANN chairwoman Esther Dyson said board members directly elected by Internet users would have greater accountability than ones picked by governments.
Government nominees would comprise one-third of the 15-member board. Another third would come through a committee process, with the rest consisting of ICANN's president and appointments by four policy and technical groups.
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