ICANN, like all 501(c)(3) Federally tax exempt bodies, must file a yearly report, called a Form 990, that describes their finances and what they have done to continue to deserve exception from taxation.
ICANN's year 2005 Form 990 is up on the web via guidestar.com (free subscription and login required).
The form asks the following question:
Q. All organizations must describe their exempt purpose ...
Here is ICANN's full and complete answer:
A. TO ASSIST IN THE DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF THE MECHANISMS, METHODS AND PROCEDURES NECESSARY FOR OVERSIGHT OF THE ROOT SERVERS AND OTHER POLICIES TO MAINTAIN UNIVERSAL CONNECTIVITY OF THE INTERNET.
Yes, you read it right, ICANN is claiming that it is involved with oversight of the DNS root servers. That is flat out false. About the most that ICANN does is to talk to root server operators on occasion. But if that minor level of talking deserves an exemption from Federal taxes, than I think that perhaps many of us also ought to have such an exemption.
Posted by karl at January 7, 2007 2:54 AM