ICANN Ethical Conflicts Are Worse Than They Seem 26
hapworth writes "In light of outgoing ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom's admission that the board is mired in conflicts of interest, another ICANN insider has spoken up to say the ethical issues go way deeper than what Beckstrom pointed to. Beau Brendler, chairman of the North American Internet user advisory committee to ICANN (NARALO), lists ICANN's executive committee members and their individual conflicts, stating that the 'public interest is not well served by a structure and executive leadership that's conflicted by the same industry it's supposed to oversee.' Brendler says the truth about ICANN's 'hundreds' of ethical conflicts has been buried for years and is only starting to come to light because of a 'few rebellious voices.'"
The good part ... (Score:5, Informative)
The good part is that the members seem to be declaring their conflicts and recusing themselves (sometimes over half of them) rather than participate in decisions when they have a conflict. I wish this were the case with more commissions regulating other industries.
This is characteristic of all government regulation organizations. It's called "regulatory capture". Virtually anyone who has the expertise to regulate an industry developed that expertise by working in the industry - typically in high positions - and being interested in it. So the regulatory boards end up stacked with people with conflicts of interest (even if the boards pay well enough for the members to divest themselves of all current financial ties).
Insider article explaining a little more (Score:5, Informative)
I have followed ICANN for a decade and worked for it for three years. I wrote a post on this issue that should give some answers to the questions asked above as well as give some insider insights:
http://news.dot-nxt.com/2012/03/14/beckstrom-right-for-wrong-reasons
From ICANN's past... (Score:5, Informative)
Remember these?
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/02/05/22/0150223/icann-director-seeks-court-order-to-review-records [slashdot.org]
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/02/03/15/1655246/icann-board-spurns-democratic-elections [slashdot.org]
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/02/10/31/2035207/icann-ditches-public-participation [slashdot.org]
The problems with ICANN go back a long time. The only thing that seems to be new here is that perhaps, finally, more light is being focused on them and more people are finally taking notice. Sadly, I suspect it's too little, too late.