Hopefully it is not just me that sees breathtaking irony in the statement below… that anyone that would criticize Icann for not being accountable or having appropriate oversight, and then contrast it to the U.N. is just beyond the pale. Really.
Irrespective of what your position on global internet oversight is, there can be little disagreement with the statement that putting global internet governance in the hands of an organization where almost 40% of the membership consists of dictators, tyrants, and thugs cannot result in anything good. Would you want countries like Venezuela, China, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia deciding how packets are routed and namespaces maintained?
Keep the United Nations’s Hands Off the Internet – October 2, 2006 – The New York Sun:
Although it has federal government oversight, Icann is hardly an instrument of the federal government — no doubt to the consternation of many members of Congress and the administration. For that matter, it is hardly the choice of any government or the U.N. either.The U.N. is ultimately a body whose members are governments; Icann, for much the better, has no governmental members.