ICANN has breached its duties to maintain an open, freely competitive Internet

Glad to see Scott Turow stand up and object to ICANN's auctioning off the internet to large corporations. First we have the ITU and UN trying to take over the internet and turn it over to the worst totalitarian regimes on earth, and now we have ICANN turning over whole pieces of the internet to the control of multinational corporations--including use of generic domain names--gTLDs--like .book, .author, etc.  You couldn't even apply for one of these names without paying $185,000! ICANN has been told repeatedly that they are off-track on this scheme. I hope someone stops ICANN before they completely destroy the internet.

ICANN Email Archives: [comments-closed-generic-05feb13]: Date: Thu, 07 Mar 201--

Dr. Stephen D. Crocker, Chairman of the Board

Mr. Fadi Chehadé, President & CEO

Mr. Cherine Chalaby, Chair of the New gTLD Committee

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

12025 Waterfront Drive, Suite 300

Los Angeles, CA 90094

Dear Sirs:

I'm writing as president of the Authors Guild, the largest society of book authors in the U.S., representing more than 8,000 published writers. We strongly object to ICANN's plans to sell the exclusive top-level domain rights for generic book-industry terms, such as .book, .author, and .read. Placing such generic domains in private hands is plainly anticompetitive, allowing already dominant, well-capitalized companies to expand and entrench their market power. The potential for abuse seems limitless. ICANN, of all entities, should be mindful of the critical need to maintain an open, freely competitive Internet. Please rethink this project.

Sincerely,
Scott Turow
President
Authors Guild

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