IP: ICANN Gets Green Light by Niall McKay

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/16469.html

 ICANN Gets Green Light by Niall McKay

5:00 p.m. 24.Nov.98.PST The White House will begin the handover of the Net's
technical management to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
on Wednesday. The birth of the corporation, or ICANN, has been fraught with
contention. Last week, it was halted when the White House told the organization
it had to become more open and accountable.

"ICANN has addressed most but not all of our concerns, but it's close enough to
begin moving ahead," Magaziner said Tuesday. "Tomorrow we will launch a joint
project to designate the specifics of the new organization."

In response to White House concerns, the corporation amended its bylaws to
ensure, it says, a more open and democratic process.

"We have made a lot of changes to our bylaws in response to the feedback from
the White House and interested parties," said Esther Dyson, interim chairman
for ICANN. "While everybody in the world is not happy, we believe that we have
reached a much broader consensus."

Under the terms of the joint project, ICANN and the Commerce Department will
work together to figure out the specific details of the new organization. "The
joint project will not give ICANN immediate responsibility for the Internet,"
said Magaziner. "It will just give them the go ahead to begin forming the new
organization."

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_____________________________________________________________________
David Farber         
The Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunication Systems
University of Pennsylvania 
Home Page: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~farber