Some Internet-based businesses in the United States would support the splitting of the domain-name governance system instead of allowing an agreement ICANN and the U.S. government to end later this year, the leader of a U.S. trade association NetChoice said this week, reports IDG. Steve DelBianco, executive director of NetChoice, suggested ICANN's traditional role be split, with ICANN retaining responsibility for overseeing gTLDs and a new organisation oversee ccTLDs.
However Paul Levins and Everton Lucero, head of the Science and
Technology Division of Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both said
splitting up ICANN's responsibilities would be a bad idea with Lucero
saying such a move would lead to confusion, but that ICANN should aim
to become more international.But DelBianco and Jeff Bruggeman, vice president of regulatory planning and policy at AT&T, suggested that U.S. control may be better than alternatives. Levins played down the end of the agreement with the U.S. government and said ICANN will not be taken over by any other government. "We're not seeking independence," he said. "We are already independent. We're not concluding any relationship."
The above points were raised during a panel discussion at the State of the 'Net conference in Washington, D.C., with Philip Corwin, counsel to the Internet Commerce Association, suggesting ICANN slow down its timeline for new gTLDs. "Isn't it more important to do this right than to do this quickly?"
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