On 07/10/05, Todd Walton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Iran, Pakistan, Brazil, the European Union, and some others want to > take the ICANN away from the United States. They say that the US has > too much power over the Internet and that it's not willing to share > that power. > > I agree, but I don't think those other countries should have that > power either. I wish that ICANN didn't have to be under the control > of any government, and not the United Nations either. But maybe I'm > dreaming. > > -todd
Are we all familiar with the Hackers Manifesto? for those of you that aren't I have quoted a section from this below, which is most pertinent to the ICANN discussion. This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud.. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals. Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for. I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop me, but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike." If we allow the internet to become fragemented and allow Iran, Pakistan etc to make their own global intranets, you have destroyed Freedom. Censorship becomes so much easier, and limitation of knowledge so much more possible. The internet belongs to the world, not a person, a group, or a country we cannot surrender it to countries or states who would use it for none altruistic purposes. If the internet becomes fractured into global intranets, we shall end with a neutral body or alliance, located in Swizerland, for neutrality purposes, performing proxy services between the globes Intranets. ICANN is fine in its current location, there is no where better for it to go. The USA has given control of ICANN over a to a private group with an international board. The USA does have veto power over the board, which it has, as of date, never used. What would you propose the world did with ICANN, we can't give it to the United Nations, nor can we move it europe, what benefit would there be ? the ICANN debate is a powerplay, nothing more. daN -- _____________________________________________________________ " They that can give up liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin 1706 - 1790 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Most low income households are not online. Help bridge the digital divide today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/cd_AJB/QnQLAA/TtwFAA/0XFolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dubailug/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
