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March 29, 2002
Dr. Vinton G. Cerf, Chairman
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN)
4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330
Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6601
Dear Chairman Cerf:
On behalf of the USACM, the U.S. Public Policy Committee
of the Association for Computing Machinery, we are
writing to express our concerns with the current state
of Internet governance and the status of the Internet
Corporation for Assigning Names and Numbers (ICANN).
On February 24, 2002, M. Stuart Lynn, President of
the Internet Corporation for Assigning Names and Numbers
(ICANN), issued a document entitled, "President's
Report: ICANN The Case for Reform". We agree
with Dr. Lynn's comment that, "The Internet needs
effective, lightweight, and sensible global coordination
in a few limited areas, allowing ample room for the
innovation and change that makes this unique resource
so useful and valuable."
Therefore, we join the RIPE Network Coordination
Centre (RIPE NCC) in calling for a "return to
ICANN's core tasks, namely the coordination of Internet
resources on a technical level. We support the letter
sent by RIPE NCC to Dr. Lynn, included below in its
entirety, and we share their astonishment at the manner
and timing of the publication of the Lynn proposal.
We call on ICANN to scale down its operations and
to focus on its core technical mission. We also urge
ICANN to work more closely with the technical community
that has always been the mainstay of the DNS and IP
systems.
Finally, if ICANN insists on continuing on its current
course of making policy as well as technical decisions,
then there is a greater need than ever for least half
of the Board members to be elected representatives
of the public.
Sincerely,
Barbara Simons, Ph.D.
Eugene H. Spafford, Ph.D
Co-Chairs
U.S. ACM Public Policy Committee
Association for Computing Machinery
About USACM:
USACM is the U.S. Public
Policy Committee of the Association for Computing
Machinery (ACM). ACM is the leading nonprofit membership
organization of computer scientists and information
technology professionals dedicated to advancing the
art, science, engineering and application of information
technology. Since 1947, ACM has been a pioneering
force in fostering the open interchange of information
and promoting both technical and ethical excellence
in computing. Over 70,000 computer scientists and
information technology professionals from around the
world are members of ACM.
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