ICANN and Versign Dig In as Opposition Grows to Proposed Settlement

As dissent spreads over the proposed settlement between the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and VeriSign, the .com and .net registry, the United States Congress is poised to enter the debate. Representative Rick Boucher, a Democrat from Virginia, is seeking oversight hearings by the House Energy and Commerce Committee to investigate “serious anticompetitive concerns with wide-ranging global implications.” The U.S. Department of Commerce, the government entity which oversees ICANN and the Internet, must approve the settlement before it becomes active. If rejected, ICANN and VeriSign would resume the two pending lawsuits and an arbitration between the two. The proposed settlement’s impact on competition in the domain name industry has caused alarm among domain registrars, foreign governments, and advocates for an open and transparent system of governance for the Internet. Despite wide-spread criticism of the settlement, ICANN rejected requests for reconsideration at the recent ICANN conference in Wellington, New Zealand. The VeriSign settlement was approved by the ICANN board on February 28, 2006.

Originally reported by Sedo.

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