[CCWG-ACCT] The Economist | A virtual turf war: The scramble for .africa

[Mueller, Milton L]

Profound

MM: No, unbearably superficial.

“Lawyers in California are denying Africans their own domain”
-          No, the dispute is between two different groups of Africans

“ACR’s ace was not just that it had the support of almost three-quarters of African countries (it needed 60%) but that it had been chosen by the African Union”
-          No, not three-quarters of Africans but ¾ of African _Governments_, which is not quite the same as the African people. I bet if you took a vote, Mr Lisse, that ¾ of African heads of state might prefer that you not operate the ccTLD for Namibia. ;-)

“because several African governments objected to it.”
-          Yeah, they objected because they wanted it. Governments object to lots of things that they shouldn’t (like free expression) and ask for lots of things they shouldn’t have (like monopolies on telecom services)

I see that the predictable parties are attempting to make this an identity politics issue, but it’s not. It’s fundamentally about process and the main issue is the fairness of ICANN’s decision. It’s perfectly appropriate for that issue to be settled in California courts. If ICANN is to be accountable is has to follow its defined policies and procedures.

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