Technology Policy Institute To Speak at ICANN Hearings

Authors of recent study about ICANN to provide testimony.

Thomas Lenard of Technology Policy Institute and co-author of a recent study about ICANN’s structure will provide testimony at today’s congressional hearings on ICANN.

Yesterday Domain Name Wire reported about Go Daddy’s planned testimony. Lenard’s testimony will also call for reform of ICANN before it is cut loose, according to a document on TPI’s web site (pdf).

However, as I noted when TPI’s study was released, I believe its findings on whom ICANN should be accountable to are fundamentally flawed. TPI wants to hand over control of the domain name system to registrars and registries, which it says are ICANN’s constituents and pay the bills. I believe the ultimate constituents of ICANN are the domain name owners, and their best interests are not always aligned with those of the registries and registrars.