PC World – “US plan to end ICANN oversight could lead to ‘Net censorship, lawmakers say”
Steve DelBianco, executive director of e-commerce trade group NetChoice, urged lawmakers and the ICANN community to consider a range of potential scenarios, including ICANN relocating its headquarters outside of the U.S. and ICANN becoming financially insolvent, after NTIA ends its oversight.
DelBianco also described a scenario in which a majority of ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee moves to suspend a top-level domain that refuses to remove websites critical of governments. The U.S. government now provides a critical backstop for ICANN to ensure against major problems, DelBianco said.
“It can be uncomfortable to imagine a scenario where a future ICANN fails dramatically or is confronted with a serious threat,” he said. “But we should consider challenging scenarios and develop mechanisms that could resolve those challenges in a way that’s at least as effective as the mechanism we have today.”