Revolving Door Shows Stakes in New Domains Game

There should be something in the organization's bylaws. When the chairman of the board of an organization with quasi-regulatory power over a sector of the Internet, who had been known for strongly pushing the agenda for new domain names, leaves his post and in less than a week is working for, shall we say, most competitive domain name sellers in the business, it just doesn't look good. Especially when the head of that company had been loudly lobbying to the user community for new domains, and haranguing anyone who didn't share his enthusiasm.

I've been working with some non-profits, and it just pains me to hear them worried about whether they should go spend time and money registering a bunch of domain names to protect their identity. It's a giant waste of time and money. And sure enough, people do typosquat on non-profit sites, for a variety of reasons, and extort money that those non-profits could be spending on community services.

I've posted a lot of stuff here about ICANN, because I am close to it. The longer I am close to it, the more I realize that the domain game is rigged. It's said there are over 900 registrars. In fact it's closer to 160 companies and their shells and proxies.

I am not entirely convinced by the argument, Beau, as it's just so absolutely common for people working in some public sector, or quasi-public sector role, to then take a job with a company working in the same field. Do we think Steve van Roekel shouldn't work in the commercial IT field once he ceases to be the federal CIO?

Sometimes this leaves a bad taste in the mouth, but legislating against it (even if it were possible) would severely deter able candidates from entering public service.

Thank you for once again raising our consciousness about ICANN, Beau. Must say I don't understand all the ins and outs here, but clearly, some soul-searching is due for ICANN and its constituents to avoid not only conflicts of interest but the appearance of conflicts.

#occupyICANN!