[Comments-com-amendment-3-03jan20] This could be seen as corrupt

David Week davidweek at cal.berkeley.edu
Mon Feb 10 23:14:06 UTC 2020


Hi folks

This could be seen as corrupt

We often think of corruption as under-the-table payments in brown paper bags. However, corruption is defined more broadly than that. It’s the use of public goods for private gain. “Private gain” includes not-for-profit corporations, which despite being NFP, can gain from certain arrangements.

Not all corruption is illegal. This is a matter not of law, but of ethics.

ICANN has, since inception, argued for the DNS as a public good as justification for its monopoly control.

It’s therefore disturbing to see ICANN entering into an arrangement under which the other party will be given permission to increase prices for the .COM domain, and ICANN will receive $20m from that party. 

An alternative, more transparent and accountable way for ICANN to raise funds is to increase the fees we, the users, pay ICANN directly. 

This would allow ICANN to exercise its governance responsibilities without conflict of interest.

Best

David Week
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