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Why ICANN failed

Why ICANN failed. Milton Mueller Associate Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies. Internet Governance. Governance definition: the exploitation of technical bottlenecks or access to technical resources to regulate socio-economic conduct. E.g., broadcasting

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Why ICANN failed

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  1. Why ICANN failed Milton Mueller Associate Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies

  2. Internet Governance • Governance definition: • the exploitation of technical bottlenecks or access to technical resources to regulate socio-economic conduct. • E.g., broadcasting • ICANN is in the business of governance, not technical coordination • dispute resolution policy and famous marks • imposing a business model on domain name registration • WG discussions • Sovereignty claims to TLDs

  3. ICANN’s Pre-history • Internet Architecture Board (IAB) 1990; Internet Society (ISOC), 1992 • IANA’s attempt to privatize itself, 1995-6 • 150 new gTLDs, $2000 + 2% of revenues • The IAHC and the gTLD-MoU • ISOC-IANA, WIPO, ITU, new registrars • shared registry model • cartel-ized top-level domain space • links domain name assignment to trademark protection

  4. The White Paper and ICANN • White Paper abdicates direct government action • Behind-the-scenes agreement with US Govt, Europeans, IBM, WIPO, and ISOC-IANA on governance agenda • essentially the same as gTLD-MoU • Initial Board gives complete control of ICANN to gTLD-MoU faction

  5. Conclusions • The rhetoric of “industry self-regulation” was a mask that allowed a specific coalition of actors, led by the Internet Society, IBM, and a small number of European allies, to take over the administration of the Internet. • Administration concentrated exclusively on e-commerce and ignored implications of handing governance power to an unaccountable private entity

  6. Conclusions • ICANN’s initial board was controlled by a single faction with a specific governance agenda that did not command consensus. • The determination of that faction to implement its agenda as quickly as possible fatally undermined the new corporation’s ability to: • function as a vehicle for consensual “self-regulation” • develop durable, trusted processes

  7. Difficult questions for the future • Can ICANN be fixed or should we start over? • How much globalization is appropriate?

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