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Don't
sidetrack ICANN is business plea
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| ICANN ain't broke,
so why fix it? |
Paris,
10 July 2003 - The International Chamber of Commerce is opposing
imminent moves to create a new intergovernmental organization to manage
the Internet domain name system.
ICC's top e-business
and IT expert, Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, said companies engaged in e-commerce
wanted to preserve the existing Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers (ICANN).
"Without all
stakeholders' full and equal involvement in the technical coordination
of the Internet, there is a real risk that the Internet will degrade and
fail to reach its full potential as a global communications and business
medium," he said,
Mr Abu-Ghazaleh, who
heads ICC's Commission on E-Business, IT and Telecommunications, is Chairman
of the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Group of leading Arab regional professional
services firms. He was addressing a meeting of his commission, attended
by executives from many of the world's leading e-business users and service
providers.
He made his comments
ahead of a preparatory meeting in Paris next Tuesday for the United Nations
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Government representatives
will debate a draft text calling for a new intergovernmental organization
to run the Internet. If approved, it will be submitted for adoption and
signature by heads of state and government at the WSIS summit in Geneva
in December.
ICANN is a private-sector
led organization, the closest the Internet has come to an international
coordinating body. Its task is to run the domain name system that provides
Internet users with .com, .net and .org as well as country domain names
such as .de for Germany and .uk for Britain.
ICC Secretary General
Maria Livanos Cattaui warned in a letter to governments against proposals
to replace ICANN with any intergovernmental organization to manage root
servers, domain names and address assignments.
She said: "This
runs directly contrary to the business view that private sector leadership
of the Internet is working and is essential for its stability and continued
development. ICC supports the ongoing evolution of ICANN and its related
organizations. If it ain't broke don't fix it."
An ICC analysis of perceived flaws in the draft text prepared for the
Paris meeting said it was misleading to use the term "Internet governance".
"The Internet is a set of global networks. It can be coordinated
to ensure that it functions as a coherent system, but there is no system
of governance that is applicable in the usual sense of the word."
ICC further argued
that ICANN's structure provides for balanced representation from all stakeholders.
ICANN was a private sector led organization that operated as a public/private
partnership, ensuring that all stakeholders could participate in its global
technical coordination. A Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) ensured
that governments and international organizations could participate in
ICANN, ICC pointed out.
For
further information, please contact:
Maria Farrell, ICC Commission on E-Business, IT and Telecoms
Tel. +33 (0)1 49 53 28 07 e-mail: Click here to send a mail.
Commission
on E-Business, IT and Telecommunications
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