Vint Cerf at ICANN the Tiebreaker in the Verisign Deal

Icann gives Verisign the nod
06 March 2006

The board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the US-based body that manages the Internet, has approved a controversial contract under which Verisign will manage the ".com" domain, with the board's Kiwi member dissenting.


Peter Dengate Thrush, a former New Zealand barrister who has been involved in Icann since it was created in 1998, joined four other board members in opposing the contract with domain registrar Verisign.

It now has rights to manage the ".com" domain without needing to go through a competitive bidding process to renew the arrangement in 2012, meaning Icann has effectively granted it perpetual management rights to the domain.

Nine members voted for the contract, including Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, and one abstained.

The contract allows Verisign to raise domain registration fees by 7 per cent per year for four of the six years before the contract is renewed in 2012. In exchange, Verisign will drop lawsuits against Icann.

The contract has drawn criticism from watchdogs, other registrars and a member of the US Congress for being anti-competitive.

It now goes to the US government for approval, though this is considered to be a formality.

Again, if your company is big enough to hire good lawyers and you sue ICANN, Vent Cerf and others on the board will do whatever you tell them to.

This cowardly approach to Internet governance is wrong. This simply hands control of the net over to anyone willing to sue them. A bad precedent to set.

by Chris McElroy
More things that just piss me off

source for above story; Stuff.co.nz