November 16, 2005

Internet Users Lose Big

There is a lot of hoopla about the US "winning" at the WSIS meeting.

While it may be true that the US browbeat its way to what it wanted, the result is a stunning defeat for the interests of users of the internet.

There exists no body today that is watching over the internet to ensure that it continues to operate.

ICANN does not do that, and the WSIS participants were not asking to do it either.

The fact is: The internet remains in at risk.

There is no body that is responsible to the public that oversees the operation of critical core resources of the internet to ensure that packets traverse the net from source IP address to destination IP address with dispatch and reasonable (but not guaranteed) reliability.

There is no body that is responsible to the public that oversees the operation of the upper tier of DNS servers to ensure that domain name queries are answered quickly, accurately, reliably, and without preference for, or prejudice against, anyone.

The only thing that the United States "won" was a continuation of the status quo, which is to say ICANN will continue as almost nothing more than a body that regulates business practices of those who sell domain names.

So, if, or rather when, a network-Katrina hits the internet, we can blame the folks in the US government who confound business regulation with technical oversight.

The community of internet users requires more from internet governance than this.

Posted by karl at November 16, 2005 9:45 AM