Download the letter here: http://domainnamewire.com/wp-content/ICANN-smith-coble.pdf On Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 6:20 PM, Jorge Amodio <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >> I don't think it has to do with protecting the organization as a benevolent >> parent might. >> >> Yes, it is a matter of protectionism, but it is commercial protectionism. > > Well I would not expect less from a US Congressman than representing > the interests of her/his constituents, particularly from the republican > side of the aisle that has been defending commercial interests and > property rights since the American Compact days. > > Alex, about your comment, do you really believe that ICANN as an > organization is mature enough to earn its "independence" ? > > I respectfully disagree, IMHO ICANN is far away of being the > organization it should be. > > For starters the current framework makes ICANN accountable to > nobody. I believe Milton said it somewhere and I agree that the > JPA or something similar is part of the problem. > > The current architecture of the organization does not help either, > and the bottom-up process gets manipulated from the top and > the middle where the bottom sometimes looks like a group of > puppets following the actions of their masters pulling the strings. > > Also, in some cases it's not very clear who is representative of > what in many of the constituencies. > > On the other hand, an organization with lack of transparency > and accountability that has $70+MM/yr up for grabs compounded > with that we are dealing with a "market" that is estimated to be > in the $4-5B ballpark, creates way too many interests which will > fight up to their teeth to grab a larger piece of the pie. > > Sorry folks, the gTLDs are not coming as soon as you expected, > not only because of technical or process scalability issues, and > in my opinion we have yet to see if the ccTLD IDN fast track > program which ICANN is using to get some ccTLD's on the bag, > gets derailed as soon as other TLD operators start to fight for > their privilege to compete and have their share on the IDN > name space. > > I congratulate all the attorneys since they will have a very > productive season coming soon. > > Cheers > Jorge >