ICANN 51, Money, Sponsors, Conflicts of Interest, Multistakeholderism

ICANN Sponsorship Opportunities | Meetings: "... Your company will receive unsurpassed recognition by our attendees as a Diamond level sponsor, with continuous brand exposure during the week of the meeting and beyond..."

screenshot of  ICANN 51 sponsors (source: icann.org)

How would you feel if your national legislative assembly (e.g., Congress, Parliament, etc.) was commercially "sponsored" by the very same corporations seeking favorable treatment, favorable outcomes, and special prerogatives, rights, and privileges from that very same "governing body"--see any problem with that, any conflicts of interest?

This is SOP (standard operating procedure) in the wonderful world of multi-stakeholder governance of the global Internet DNS as practiced within ICANN where the lobbyists are the legislators [see screenshot at left--ICANN 51 "sponsors" as indicated on the ICANN 51 website].  In this case a picture is worth a thousand words.

Granted, that for all practical purposes, ICANN is often little more than a glorified Industry Trade Association organized for promotion of the Domain Name Industry which dominates its decision-making structure and its Board of Directors (ICANN has no membership--just a self-selected, and otherwise unaccountable, Board of Directors).

Domain Mondo hopes everyone is enjoying ICANN 51--especially the sponsors--and that everyone in LA is getting their money's worth!

Of course, you will never hear ICANN acknowledge at one of its public meetings how much the Domain Name Registrants' fees support ICANN as a percentage of its operating budget--heck, Domain Name Registrants don't even have a seat at the table! (Don't go looking for a Domain Name Registrants Interest Group at ICANN--it doesn't exist!). And look at the ICANN Budget Revenues (pdf)--there is no information as to how much of the income shown as sourced from Registry/Registrars is actually paid by domain name registrants--this is to keep up the illusion that it is the domain name industry that is supporting ICANN when it is actually the domain name registrants!

For more on how ICANN has largely been captured by the Domain Name Industry see:

• Domain Names Industry, ICANN, Regulatory Capture
• Reform ICANN? France or the EU May Be Our Only Hope (video)
• The Internet, US Government, ICANN, ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 
• Most New gTLD Domain Names Are On Life-Support, Infecting Other gTLDs 
• Why ICANN's New gTLD Domains Are A #FAIL, Reason #1 
• Reason #2 Why New gTLD Domains Are a #FAIL 

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