You're suggesting that there is some sort of technical workaround that can be deployed to solve this possible legal (and, ultimately, political) problem. I'm n

You're suggesting that there is some sort of technical workaround that can be deployed to solve this possible legal (and, ultimately, political) problem. I'm not that optimistic. As far as I can tell, the argument being made in this case is: According to US law, country X owes me money and hasn't paid. You, ICANN, a US entity, provide thing-of-value to country X. You should give thing-of-value to me instead (as compensation and/or increased leverage towards getting my debt paid). While the precise contours of the problem would depend on exactly how ICANN hypothetically loses, I see no reason why that template wouldn't also apply to OpenDNS, Google, Comcast, AT&T or Level 3. If too many pieces of the Internet's infrastructure are "within legal reach", it doesn't matter what technical wizardry someone comes up with - it couldn't be deployed.