ICANN's VeriSign angle
Must ICANN decide your and my 'dot com' fate? Going by recent
reports, it seems very likely. But before embarking on the
issue, let's hark back a little.
Some time back, at the second World Information Summit at Tunis
(16-18 November, 2005), a widely-held apprehension surfaced
rather unceremoniously. The issue
was whether ICANN (Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers),
a non-profit entity operating from California, US that maintains
and controls a master list of generic domains, should continue
to hold sway like it has so long been doing.
There indeed was strong opposition from third-world countries to
let ICANN maintain its monopoly, especially with respect to the
fact that ICANN is supposedly controlled by the US government's
department of commerce. Ultimately though the issue lost steam
mainly because there was no unanimity as to how a multi-lateral
system would work, should ICANN's monopoly be shunned.
In this backdrop, when it became known that ICANN is reportedly entering
into agreement with VeriSign that virtually allows the latter a
perpetual monopoly over the .COM registry, it came as a rude
jolt to the internet community. Countless people allover are
aghast at the turn of events and worried that their internet
business (related to .COM domain) will henceforth be at
VeriSign's mercy.
Let's not forget that ICANN controls not only generic domains,
but also country-specific suffixes like .in, .br,
.jp and so on. That being so, what guarantee that ICANN
won't pass on their control to any third party? Folks, it's
tough time out there. If anyone is willing to join the issue, do
click here.
Let's remember this is not time to stay away when someone else's
house is burning. Next time it may well be ours.