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Does anyone have any insight into how this relates to the Obama administration’s push to relinquish American control over ICANN? I am starting to get the sense

Does anyone have any insight into how this relates to the Obama administration’s push to relinquish American control over ICANN? I am starting to get the sense that the sale of the .org TLD is not just coincidental. It’s starting to smell like any number of the massively corrupt international organizations like the IOC (Olympics) or FIFA (Soccer/football). Maybe it’s just my cynical side, but all this seems way too convenient and sequentially timed to be coincidental. But please, I welcome anyone to assuage my concerns with rational argument.

Tfd22 7y ago
There is a lot that seems stinky with this deal... but The Register has reported that it was pressure from the US Government that led to ICANN's decision to remove the price caps from .org (without which the sale of PIR likely wouldn't have gone ahead). So it's hard to see how the transition away from US oversight would have been a factor here. In fact, possibly it's quite the opposite - the NRO only has the power to request this information from ICANN due to additional community powers that were put in place as part of the process to end US oversight. So now the Internet community can steer ICANN in ways it couldn't before this change and (in theory) doesn't have to rely on vague threats from the US Gov to keep ICANN honest. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/07/01/org_domain_icann/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/07/01/org_domain_icann/ >Worse, the decision to push ahead with the contract change and ignore opposition to the price caps appears to have been made solely to appease two of the most powerful internet registries that ICANN is supposed to be overseeing, and in response to subtle pressure from the US government. [...] >One of the very few comments in favor of lifting the price caps specifically noted comments from the head of the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division about how it supported "reducing regulation, by encouraging competitive markets" and then noted in the same paragraph that ICANN "had its contracts reviewed by the DoJ’s antitrust division, which concluded that only .com had market power in the domain space." >It was a clear message that ICANN would be crossing not only its main funders but also its own government (ICANN is based in Los Angeles) if it did not approve the changes.

Tfd22 7y ago

There is a lot that seems stinky with this deal... but The Register has reported that it was pressure from the US Government that led to ICANN's decision to remove the price caps from .org (without which the sale of PIR likely wouldn't have gone ahead). So it's hard to see how the transition away from US oversight would have been a factor here. In fact, possibly it's quite the opposite - the NRO only has the power to request this information from ICANN due to additional community powers that were put in place as part of the process to end US oversight. So now the Internet community can steer ICANN in ways it couldn't before this change and (in theory) doesn't have to rely on vague threats from the US Gov to keep ICANN honest. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/07/01/org_domain_icann/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/07/01/org_domain_icann/ >Worse, the decision to push ahead with the contract change and ignore opposition to the price caps appears to have been made solely to appease two of the most powerful internet registries that ICANN is supposed to be overseeing, and in response to subtle pressure from the US government. [...] >One of the very few comments in favor of lifting the price caps specifically noted comments from the head of the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division about how it supported "reducing regulation, by encouraging competitive markets" and then noted in the same paragraph that ICANN "had its contracts reviewed by the DoJ’s antitrust division, which concluded that only .com had market power in the domain space." >It was a clear message that ICANN would be crossing not only its main funders but also its own government (ICANN is based in Los Angeles) if it did not approve the changes.