Hope you are doing well - I’ll be at LSE on the 10th - hope to see you then…

I call them like I see them, so I’ll be blunt: Lee Salter’s statement is a sad and not very illuminating piece of anti-Americanism (’USG has killed millions of people around the world’ and ‘their parochialism…’) and doesn’t go to the question of the DNS root servers / ICANN that is the issue on the table today. This is hardly a useful basis upon which to launch a discussion. It’s disgusting expressions of anti-Americanism like these that make the Googles and Yahoos of the world understandably nervious about removing control of the DNS root servers from ICANN and the U.S. government.

Certainly, having ICANN’s actions ultimately controlled by the U.S. government is not ideal, but as one EC official recently admitted to me - there is no better alternative that anyone as suggested, including Viviane Reding of the EC InfoSoc…

I’ve also been told that the ICANN-GAC - composed of these other governments - intervenes much more often than the U.S. government in ICANN matters. So, with a lot of bad press related to Iraq and other matters, it’s no surprise that anti-American people of all types think it’s a bad idea for the U.S. to control the DNS root servers. But, it’s an opinion that’s more reactive or instinctive than thoughtful if you have the best interests of the internet and its users in mind.

I recommend Carl Bildt on this issue. Here’s what he had to say:

http://bildt.blogspot.com/2005/10/internet-confusion-in-brussels.html

Russ Taylor
OfcomWatch