Is Icann's importance overstated in the media?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Rhe press has been sloppy on this one djf

Begin forwarded message:

From: Richard Wiggins <richard.wiggins () gmail com>
Date: July 2, 2005 5:47:44 AM EDT
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Is Icann's importance overstated in the media?
Reply-To: Richard Wiggins <richard.wiggins () gmail com>


Dave,

Over and over again, media reports say that Icann "manages the traffic
on the Internet."  Icann does not do this, and never has done so.
Icann's name literally is "Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers." Icann took over the simple, but vital, function provided by
ISI at U Southern Cal:  map domain names to IP addresses.

If Icann would have merely stuck to this purpose, the world would be a
better place.  It is silly to claim that Icann manages the traffic of
the Internet, but that seems to be a mantle that Icann, at times, was
glad to assume.

If Icann simply managed the now ancient function of mapping names to
numbers, I doubt the ITU and Europe would have much of a problem with
it -- assuming that Icann did so efficiently and at a reasonable cost.

It has always seemed to me that Icann has a basic choice: do a simple,
but vital, function very well, in which case you can succeed in
performing an important role -- or aspire to rule the Internet, in
which case the world will take you down.

/rich


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