Why is ICANN rushing its 'UN 'net security council'? So it can be announced at Davos
Despite rejections from its closest allies and calls for delay, ICANN is determined to create a "coordination council" for its internet-steering NetMundial Initiative this month. Why?
The initiative was born out of a meeting in April between some governments, ICANN, and others, in Brazil, to discuss the future direction of the web in the wake of Edward Snowden's NSA surveillance revelations.
Last week, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC BASIS) asked the initiative's organizers to delay the creation of a coordination council until a number of issues had been resolved. Even though ICANN's CEO literally begged the chamber to join the governance project, he refused to delay the council's creation. The week before, the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) made the same point. It said "the creation of a highly structured coordination council for the initiative may impede the development of broad participation, and so may be premature… therefore the IAB will not participate in the council at this time."
