----- Original Message ----- From: "M. Stuart Lynn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> This (now old) CNN story involved a headline writer who does not read > the text (I never mentioned any timeframe) and a reporter who did not > understand my statement. > I am sure that many Americans do not understand you or what you are trying to do. ICANN's role is largely over. ICANN was formed at the end of the Postel regime, when the U.S. Government realized that I* insiders (like yourself) were not going to create and play on a level playing field. The IAHC process demonstrated that in grand fashion. At the time ICANN was created, there were a handfull (5-6?) TLDs which were obviously ready to be entered into the legacy root servers. People paid by NSI, had convinced people to allow the U.S. Government to level the playing field. Supposedly, fair and impartial people were brought in to end the years of debates. The few TLDs were to be proof-of-concept tests to show that new TLDs could be added with no impact on the performance of the so called root servers. TLD servers handle the loads. Contrary to people's incorrect statements, their domain names are not entered in the "roots", they are entered into TLD servers, and there can be millions of those. The roots just point to them. That was proven when millions of COM names were in the roots. It is utter nonsense to be telling reporters that the IETF is not sure how many TLDs the roots can handle. When ICANN was formed, fair-minded people assumed it would take a couple of months and the Board would note the 5 or 6 obvious choices for new TLDs and wave their wands and things would progress. From there, hundreds or thousands more TLDs could be entered as companies decided to try their luck with a TLD. That did not happen. That is a fact. You can not put some British spin on that. What did happen was that another behind the scenes plan, hatched largely from the DOJ and DOC, became the agenda. Registrars were created (franchised) to create cash flow for ICANN. The Internet went from having thousands of companies (ISPs, web designers, law firms, etc.) acting as Registrars, to having LESS Registrars. This was proclaimed as being competition. It was not competition, it was an illusion of competition because coupled with the DOJ NSI divestiture plan was price regulation to $6. Previously, the NSF had tried their own price controls by reducing the fee from $50 to $35 by dropping the NSF taxes, that did not change the competitive landscape, because Jon Postel did not allow new TLDs to be added. In parallel with the DOJ/DOC plan to delay things with the Registrar/Registry development was of course the agenda of the Intellectual Property crowd that wanted no new TLDs. Lead by professional D.C. lobbyists, they managed to make sure that things were delayed and absurd structures were created that resulted in lotteries and sunrises, landrushes and goldrushes, but few TLDs. When ICANN did get around to the main task of adding TLDs, it could not have been more poorly handled. The I* insiders were allowed to dominate the entire process, small companies were charged $50,000 to help fund their competitors, TLDs were tossed around like loaves of bread in "shopping baskets". The world was so shocked, they were speechless at the travesty that unfolded. Not even the justification that Arthur Andersen had screened the applicants helped to convince people it was a rational process. I am confident that the real Internet Community will heal itself, and will never forget the travesty of the ICANN years. In the U.S., we are fortunate to have a democracy and elected leaders who will now step in and level the playing field. You might be able to find a following in Eastern Europe, but I doubt that U.S. citizens will continue to be fooled by your games played around the world. The ICANN years should have been good years. One can only now speculate what would have happened if the Internet were allowed to grow without this regulatory regime. Would the economy be better or worse than it is now ? Would the world be a more or less peaceful place ? Would New York still be standing tall ? No one will know, but many people know that more of the ICANN years will not heal the Internet Community. The Internet Community needs to move forward and route around you. Jim Fleming
