5 ms·

No formal investigation into the ICANN corruption that led to this situation in the first place?

by eps 6y ago

lvs 6y ago
There's no way this is a durable win without some thorough investigation, post mortem about how this nearly happened, and corrective actions.
kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
Cali AG was looking into it.
- wahern 6y ago
  According to the AG's April 15, 2020 letter, an investigation was already completed. > To that end, my office conducted an investigation of ICANN and its role in approving the transfer of the .ORG Registry Agreement from the Public Interest Registry ("PIR") (the supporting organization to the Internet Society ("ISOC")) to Ethos Capital https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/AG%20Becerra%20Letter%20to%20ICANN.pdf https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/AG%20... That letter ends with a warning that the AG would "continue to evaluate" the matter. Considering the ICANN board rejected the sale April 30[1], two weeks after the letter, I suspect the AG's office is no longer looking into the matter. Because the sale was never completed, and everything else seems to be business as usual, I don't think there's anything for the AG to continue looking into. The AG's job is to make sure charitable trusts adhere to their purpose, not to police potential impropriety that doesn't materially effect the trust. (They basically play the role of a shareholder, who in regular corporations can sue if the corporation doesn't adhere to the articles of incorporation; or the role of a beneficiary in a regular trust, who can sue if the trustee misappropriates the assets.) I'm also not sure if there's any criminal exposure here. Usually self-dealing is a civil matter, even for charitable trusts, unless it involves some other criminal act--e.g. fraud, but in this case nobody really thinks the board was being duped by the former ICANN CEO. If there was potential criminality then probably the AG wasn't confident it could make a case beyond a reasonable doubt without an actual sale and evidence about how .org would have been administered in fact. [1] https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2020-04-30-en https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2.... Announcement at https://www.icann.org/news/blog/icann-board-withholds-consent-for-a-change-of-control-of-the-public-interest-registry-pir https://www.icann.org/news/blog/icann-board-withholds-consen...
sprash 6y ago
The only correct answer is to switch to decentralized solutions like namecoin. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Any "formal investigation" will be a temporary fix at best. ICANN can do what it wants and it always will.
- troquerre 6y ago
  Have you checked out Handshake? It’s a decentralized DNS experiment that launched this year and already has adoption from domain registrars like 101domain.com and Encirca
  - eeZah7Ux 6y ago
    "Handshake uses proof-of-work mining, as it is currently the most reliable way to do compact light client proofs. Proof of work uses computational power, a lot of it." No thanks.

No formal investigation into the ICANN corruption that led to this situation in the first place?

by eps 6y ago

No formal investigation into the ICANN corruption that led to this situation in the first place?

lvs 6y ago

There's no way this is a durable win without some thorough investigation, post mortem about how this nearly happened, and corrective actions.

kevin_thibedeau 6y ago

Cali AG was looking into it.

wahern 6y ago
According to the AG's April 15, 2020 letter, an investigation was already completed. > To that end, my office conducted an investigation of ICANN and its role in approving the transfer of the .ORG Registry Agreement from the Public Interest Registry ("PIR") (the supporting organization to the Internet Society ("ISOC")) to Ethos Capital https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/AG%20Becerra%20Letter%20to%20ICANN.pdf https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/AG%20... That letter ends with a warning that the AG would "continue to evaluate" the matter. Considering the ICANN board rejected the sale April 30[1], two weeks after the letter, I suspect the AG's office is no longer looking into the matter. Because the sale was never completed, and everything else seems to be business as usual, I don't think there's anything for the AG to continue looking into. The AG's job is to make sure charitable trusts adhere to their purpose, not to police potential impropriety that doesn't materially effect the trust. (They basically play the role of a shareholder, who in regular corporations can sue if the corporation doesn't adhere to the articles of incorporation; or the role of a beneficiary in a regular trust, who can sue if the trustee misappropriates the assets.) I'm also not sure if there's any criminal exposure here. Usually self-dealing is a civil matter, even for charitable trusts, unless it involves some other criminal act--e.g. fraud, but in this case nobody really thinks the board was being duped by the former ICANN CEO. If there was potential criminality then probably the AG wasn't confident it could make a case beyond a reasonable doubt without an actual sale and evidence about how .org would have been administered in fact. [1] https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2020-04-30-en https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2.... Announcement at https://www.icann.org/news/blog/icann-board-withholds-consent-for-a-change-of-control-of-the-public-interest-registry-pir https://www.icann.org/news/blog/icann-board-withholds-consen...

sprash 6y ago

The only correct answer is to switch to decentralized solutions like namecoin. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Any "formal investigation" will be a temporary fix at best. ICANN can do what it wants and it always will.

troquerre 6y ago
Have you checked out Handshake? It’s a decentralized DNS experiment that launched this year and already has adoption from domain registrars like 101domain.com and Encirca
- eeZah7Ux 6y ago
  "Handshake uses proof-of-work mining, as it is currently the most reliable way to do compact light client proofs. Proof of work uses computational power, a lot of it." No thanks.