The New York Times has a story on new ICANN CEO and President Rod Beckstrom. The article begins by noting the organisation is "facing criticism that it is too America-centric, remains the best guardian of a 'single, unified, global Internet,' according its new chief executive."
"There will always be different voices out there, but the ultimate proof that Icann is functioning properly is that the Internet is functioning properly," Mr. Beckstrom told the Times.
The article also notes criticism from the EU following comments in recent months by Viviane Reding, the European Union media and telecommunications commissioner.
"In the long run, it is not defendable that the government department of only one country has oversight of an Internet function which is used by hundreds of millions of people in countries all over the world," Ms. Reding said in May.
Ms. Reding also called for the creation of an "independent, international tribunal" to review ICANN decisions.
As the Times notes, "any legal challenges generally occur in California courts." However Mr Beckstrom views this as a positive, saying "California law is good law for technology." Mr Beckstrom also told the Times he would oppose efforts to fragment ICANN following "discussion of creating an international subsidiary of the organization, possibly based in Switzerland" at the recent meeting in Sydney.
"Everyone can't have it their own way and have it unified," Mr. Beckstrom said. "Part of the power of the internet is that the standards that parties have to agree on are so minimal."
Being inclusive on the international scene was also discussed, with Mr Beckstrom saying that China has recently rejoined the Government Advisory Committee and that his next target is Russia.
The article also discusses internationalised domain names and criticism from CADNA.
"Joshua Bourne, president of the coalition, called for ICANN to 'halt all current or future policy initiatives' until a commission, appointed by the U.S. president or Congress, and consisting of government, academic and business representatives, had reviewed its operations. Mr. Bourne said ICANN was too beholden to companies that sell and manage actual domain names on behalf of Web sites.
To read this report in The New York Times in full, see:
nytimes.com/2009/07/13/technology/internet/13iht-icann13.html