WaPo: US to relinquish control over ICAAN

[Winehole23]

U.S. officials announced plans Friday to relinquish federal government control over the administration of the Internet, a move that pleased international critics but alarmed some business leaders and others who rely on the smooth functioning of the Web.

Pressure to let go of the final vestiges of U.S. authority over the system of Web addresses and domain names that organize the Internet has been building for more than a decade and was supercharged by the backlash last year to revelations about National Security Agency surveillance.




The change would end the long-running contract between the Commerce Department and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a California-based nonprofit group. That contract is set to expire next year but could be extended if the transition plan is not complete.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/us-to-relinquish-remaining-control-over-the-internet/2014/03/14/0c7472d0-abb5-11e3-adbc-888c8010c799_story.html

[TeyshaBlue]

“It’s inconceivable that ICANN can be accountable to the whole world. That’s the equivalent of being accountable to no one,” said Steve DelBianco, executive director of NetChoice, a trade group representing major Internet commerce businesses.

Word.

[boutons_deux]

"NetChoice, a trade group representing major Internet commerce businesses."

is business is for it, then we know we're gonna get screwed.

[Winehole23]

did not know:


Paul Klane, a father of two, was headhunted to be a part of the elite group that would be able to reboot the internet in case of a major cybersecurity crisis. And the man’s wide eyes indicates that he is keeping careful watch over his special key — that he happens to store in a plastic bag.


“Each of the 14 primary keyholders owns a traditional metal key to a safety deposit box, which in turn contains a smartcard, which in turn activates a machine that creates a new master key,” reports The Guardian. (http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/28/seven-people-keys-worldwide-internet-security-web) The master key is used to make sure that the domain name system (DNS) — a phone book of IP addresses — is authentic.


The Guardian reports the key holders, part of an organization called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), meet four times a year in the U.S. over pepperoni pizza and beer for an official key ceremony. And some of the members, “chosen for their geographical spread as well as their experience – no one country is allowed to have too many key holders,” certainly seem like characters.



Anne-Marie Eklund Löwinder, an Internet Hall of Fame member (http://www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/anne-marie-eklund-l%C3%B6winder), was described as wearing “dangly cat earrings”–pretty appropriate for someone who literally holds a key to the internet.
“Of course it is a bit romantic and thrilling to be a part of this, because I am a romantic by heart,” she said. “I have to admit I love the internet.”

http://time.com/27682/key-to-internet-pail-klane-british/

[Winehole23]

Nothing to see here:


Here's what's happened: first, ICANN (the legendarily opaque US corporation that runs the internet's Domain Name System) approved a change in pricing for .ORG domains, run by the nonprofit Internet Society (ISOC) through its Public Interest Registry (PIR), allowing the registry to raise prices. The change was done entirely by staff, without board approval.

Next, several of the people involved in that decision migrate from ICANN to ISOC or to a brand-new private equity fund called Ethos Capital, whose major investors are three families of Republican billionaires: the Romneys, the Perots and the Johnsons (https://medium.com/savedotorg/whos-going-to-run-org-in-a-word-the-gop-8809ef6f9679?).


Ethos then buys the Public Interest Registry (https://boingboing.net/2019/11/14/private-equity-company-acquire.html) from ISOC for a little over a billion dollars -- about a billion dollars less than it's likely worth -- and makes a nonbinding pledge to limit its price increases to 10%, compounded annually (!!) and starts a PR campaign to argue that this is very reasonable (however, none of the defenders of this practice are willing to refinance their mortgages on these "reasonable" terms, nor to offer bonds for sale at that rate). They buy the top Google Adwords for search terms related to the sale, and hire one of the most expensive PR firms in the business to run interference for them.

But despite this charm offensive, the opposition continues to mount. EFF and a bunch of other nonprofits point out (https://boingboing.net/2019/11/22/save-dot-org.html) that selling .ORG to private equity looters will put these shadowy power-brokers in a position to censor some of the world's leading human rights and nonprofit organizations by taking away their domain names (domain names have become a central nexus of censorship efforts).


The self-dealing and corruption on display are so revolting and undeniable that the news spreads and spreads, and becomes part of the wider critique of the monopolization of the internet and the devastating tactics of private equity firms.
Despite this, ICANN behaves in a way that is completely true to form and refuses to take action, insisting that everything is juuuuuust fine.


Until they didn't: on Dec 9, ICANN announced that it would be hitting pause on its approval of the .ORG sale for 30 days, while it requests "additional information about the proposed transaction including information about the party acquiring control, its ultimate parent entity, and whether they meet the ICANN-adopted registry operator criteria (as well as financial resources, and operational and technical capabilities)." ICANN warns that it can only block the sale on terms that rise to "a standard of reasonableness.
https://boingboing.net/2019/12/16/its-an-ethos.html
https://www.icann.org/news/blog/org-update

[boutons_deux]

Nothing to see here:

https://boingboing.net/2019/12/16/its-an-ethos.html
https://www.icann.org/news/blog/org-update

Predatory, avaricious, extractive, corrupt Capitalists LOVE monopolies.

Fuck Capitalism and fuck Capitalists.

ICANN is a fucking corrupt joke to allow .org to become for-profit. "LIMITED" to only 10% price increases per year? G M A F B

What other investment returns 10% / year forever?