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Hauben also points to the NSF Office of Inspector General's Report of 1997 which states that the U.S. government via its development of the Internet and of the public funding of the Internet development had - and still has - the authority to administer the essential functions of the Internet.

As one observer noted

As Jay Hauben mentions, before Postel died the Commerce Committee Chairman at the House of Representatives had sent a letter to the Secretary of Commerce asking for a series of documents so as to investigate what was happening in setting up ICANN and choosing the Interim Board of Directors. A copy of this letter can be found in the most recent issue of the Amateur Computerist.

For those involved with telecom issues both in Europe and North America, this is clearly false. Despite the promises of cheaper phone services due to competition, individual consumers (as opposed to corporate entities) have seen prices go up for basic, local phone services in the US, Canada, and throughout Europe. Indeed, in Central and Eastern Europe telecom charges have gone up 25% annually in countries like Hungary and in some cases doubled, as in Russia.

In addition to higher prices, there are a host of other problems. There have been reports about the corrupt processes of telecoms in the US transferring people to their services without the people's permission. Also there has been a marked increase in the number of junk phone calls. See also

According to a statement released by the European Commission in mid-October, "the EC-PoP [the European Commission's representatives for the transition process] also underlined the need to ensure a more balanced international representation." From

A sample of its header

The history of DARPA is as intriguing as that of ICANN. In response to Sputnik, President Eisenhower agreed with recommendations that there be a civilian agency that would be able to support scientific and technological research, and that would be part of the Department of Defense. Originally created to support research in space, its responsibilities changed for various reasons, so that NASA was created as a result instead. DARPA remained, however, and was soon put under the Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E) who it would seem reported to the Secretary of Defense, who is directly under the President of the US. But that Congress provides the funding, the agency also has the obligation to report to Congress and is in that way overseen by Congress as well.

Hence, the line of responsibility from DARPA is, admittedly, not so clear and concise but nevertheless exists. According to a 1975 study of DARPA/IPTO (the Information Processing Techniques Office which existed from the early 1960's until 1986), the line of responsibility went from the head of DARPA to the DDR&E, then most probably the Secretary of Defense and then Congress, with support from the President of the US being an important component of overall support for DARPA.

The study adds, however, that at times there has been more and at times less support from the President of the US for DARPA. What is of interest is that from the interviews of those who worked as part of DARPA which were cited in the study, one describes how there were various government agencies that would come to oversee the financial transactions and to make sure they were appropriate and provided for by law. The irony of it all is that DARPA was originally set up in opposition to "vested interests" whereas ICANN seems to be being set up to be in the control of "vested interests".

Wired News

In a recent Forbes digital article, the opposition of Zittrain to the apparent direction in which ICANN is heading was made clear

The possible economic implications of this is obvious. If ICANN would decide to charge a nominal amount for IP numbers, say $50 a year charge for only those allocated, this would lead to an income of $100 billion alone (NSI had a gross income of $900 million just from selling domain names).

cf. "Lessons from the early MsgGroup Mailing List as a Foundation for Identifying the Principles for Future Internet Governance" by Ronda Hauben, INET '98.

Noam Chomsky, in an interview he did on April 5, 1999 for the Boston Phoenix ("Who Runs America?", interview with Noam Chomsky by Adrian Zupp for Weekly Wire), similarly opposes the privatization of the Internet, and not just who benefits from it. In essence, he opposes the public harm that the privatization of the Internet represents to the average citizen.

This another area where Cook and Hauben disagree. While Cook sees that there is no central point of location for the Internet, Hauben regards IP numbers as a central point of control, as one must have an IP number to communicate on the Internet. Similarly, she argues that the other functions that ICANN is taking over are crucial for communication on the Internet and so it will give them power and assets that belong to the public and to cooperative processes. "They do represent something fundamentally different and are trying to take ownership and control over actual means of controlling the Internet," notes Hauben.

see "Commission coordinates action on the new Internet Assigned Numbers Authority". European Commission, 30 July 1998. RCN

Dyson, Ester - "ICANN asks Commerce Department to begin DNS transition" posting to the Online Europe list, November 7, 1998.

Allisat, Bob - "Sister Corruption & Brother Big", accessed from Netizens, 18 February 1999. see also