[ga] Comparing Monopolies, ICANN and Microsoft

["William X. Walsh" <dp-lists@dnspolicy.com>]

A Real Monopoly: Boston Globe writer Compares Microsoft and ICANN
http://www.dnspolicy.com/news/99/09/24/1859234.shtml

"Still, there's something in the American character that winces at the sight of
powerful organizations that exercise vast sway over us, even whent hey are 
indispensable to our high-tech lives. That's why I've been getting so much
hostile e-mail about a different sort of monopoly _ ICANN, or the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. "

"But ICANN is not Microsoft. In a sense, it's more powerful. Microsoft's
monopoly isn't airtight. I can always buy a Macintosh or Linux computer. But to
get an InternNet domain name, I'll have to play by the rules of ICANN, a
nonprofit organization that will neverhave any competition at all. As monopolies
go, ICANN may be more worrisome than Microsoft.


It even touches on the inappropriateness of ICANN implementing a mandatory
Uniform Dispute Policy.

Worth the read.

--
William X. Walsh - DSo Internet Services
Email: william@dso.net  Fax:(209) 671-7934
Editor of http://www.dnspolicy.com/
 
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