Gerstner's not silly enough to think that ICANN does or ever will set
transnational policy regarding Internet taxation, security and encryption,
privacy, or universal access.
However, there is a significant group of players that
seems to include IBM, that believes ICANN's flow-down
contract arrangements are the ideal means for applying
regulations, norms, and infrastructure taxes to those
using the Internet on a uniform global scale.
All Internet names and addresses become the property of
ICANN - which makes them available for use by administrators
under contracts that require those administrators to abide
by ICANN promulgations, and that they must in turn effect
similar contracts with their customers to use the names
and addresses. It's an approach called "flow-down regulation
by contract," and is seen my many as an ideal way to bring
about global uniformity for the Internet.
The underlying mechanism is the GAC - which both decides
the applicable law and normative arrangements for gTLDs
and IP addresses, but also gets the governments to apply
the same law and norms to their "sovereign" ccTLDs.
It's a seductive way to bring about a global Internet
legal regime that many of these players believe necessary
for E-Commerce and consumer protection.
--tony
