September 21, 2006 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – Web hosting provider Go Daddy’s (http://www.godaddy.com) General Counsel Ms. Christine Jones has testified before a Congressional Subcommittee reviewing Internet governance and the future of ICANN – the body governing domain name administration.
Go Daddy is urging members of the Senate to protect the integrity of the Internet and Ms. Jones’ testimony has indicated a pattern of conduct by ICANN and “.com” domain manager VeriSign which “violates the trust of Internet users worldwide and threatens consumer confidence”.
“Unfortunately, ICANN has yet to commit to or is unable to commit to openness, transparency and accountability. The manner in which the new “.com” agreement was negotiated is a relevant example of ICANN and VeriSign getting together, off the record, creating a mutually beneficial policy, and then boldly announcing that they had made a decision without input from stakeholders,” Ms. Jones explained.
The subcommittee refused to take formal action on the issue at this time and Committee Chairman Senator Ted Stevens suggested, “We need to know a lot more about this. I would like to hold a Listening Session ... to bring people in to tell us how they view this arrangement.”
Ms. Jones further told the committee, “ICANN is responsible for an important public trust. To preserve this public trust, it is vital that all stakeholders have access to and recognized input in these types of discussions. The entire Internet community should be made to fully understand the reasons for ICANN’s decisions, and to have effective and unbiased recourse if they have reason to question those processes and decisions.”
