“Barring last-minute surprises, the board is about to take
concrete steps, at long last, to create at least several new
top-level domains, or TLDs — adding needed new “suffixes”
to the familiar cast of .com, .net, .org, etc. … ICANN is
also expected to move further toward opening its own membership to
the public — the users of the Internet — by allowing them to
elect the board. But how it does this is a topic of debate as
well.”
“For the critics of ICANN, and they are legion, neither of these
moves is satisfying. A few new domains won’t change the artificial
scarcity marking today’s system. Then there’s the question of who
will get to run even those few new ones. And the procedures for
opening up of the ICANN board, perceived by many as little more
than a tool of the rich and powerful, aren’t winning a lot of fans,
either.”
“ICANN Chairwoman Esther Dyson and Chief Executive Officer Mike
Roberts seem nonplussed by the furor. Both have long histories in
the technology and networking arenas and both are nearing the ends
of their respective tenures at ICANN. They urge critics to wait and
see what actually happens Sunday before deciding it’s bad.”