I realize that the politics of Internet governance can be a real tough slog for most people but, as a reporter who spent years covering the in and outs of these issues, let me assure you that this is huge news: The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has essentially said it wants nothing to do with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
Even more remarkably, this news has been out since the middle of March and I just learned about it now (and I, like anyone who has a .ca domain) am a member of CIRA. No one’s really giving this issue much attention.
CIRA is responsible for running the .ca domain. CIRA lays the rules down for who can have one and how they should go about getting one. It also sets the “wholesale” price, if you will, to rent one for a year.
ICANN is responsible for managing the entire Domain Name System — the system whereby words and names that humans can understand, such as davidakin.com or ctv.ca, are mapped to numeric addresses that computers like to deal with. An efficiently-run DNS means that it will be cheap and effective for billions of Internet users to find what they want on the Internet. ICANN derives some of its legal authority from the U.S. government but derives much of its moral authority from non-profit international groups like CIRA. So when CIRA — which was an early financial and moral supporter of ICANN — says ICANN is out of touch, that’s saying something.
University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist is a source I turn to frequently for some level-headed thinking about these issues. In this case, Prof. Geist has a front-row seat as he has been on the board of directors for CIRA for the last five years.
“I'm particularly proud of this letter as the organization has publicly called on ICANN to follow accountable, transparent, and fair processes,” Geist writes at his blog.