CANNI?

The rejection of the .xxx domain suffix has been blamed mostly on the U.S. government's interference on the supposedly independent ICANN. One only people who know whether this is true are the members of the ICANN board and perhaps their therapist. Regardless, since the suffix is opposed explicitly by the U.S. government, the suspicion is automatic. If nothing else, this automatic suspicion, right or not, should make ICANN an international rather than U.S. body. Unfortunately, it is this suspicion, or rather the cause of this suspicion, that makes the U.S. unwilling to part with ICANN. Only a few months ago, the U.S. rejected calls to internationalize ICANN by saying that the government does not interfere with its operations and decisions. No sooner can they take a breath after the utterance, they wrote to opposite a motion in front of ICANN. No matter what anyone may say, it is interference and powerful interference, as the U.S. Commerce Department holds the purse string of ICANN. I co not want to call this two-face, but I cannot come up with anything else. While I do not agree that appearance is everything, in this case, it is a hell of a lot. If people cannot believe in the independence of ICANN, can they feel secure on the Internet? The U.S. like to take about the free and open exchange of information and ideas, relaxing their grip on ICANN will go a long way of ensuring it.