Less than a week ago, I posted a short blog piece entitled "Can ICANN Please Stop Shooting Itself in the Foot?” in which I questioned ICANN's actions in connection with the recently announced key signing ceremony. At the end of this piece I asked the question: "While it seems that ICANN continues it propensity to shoot itself in the foot, does the community need to start worrying about when ICANN takes aim at other more vital organizational body parts?" Well it looks like I only had to wait five days to get the answer to that question.
Earlier this week I noticed an announcement on the ICANN website about a report and public comment period in connection with an External Review of ICANN/IANA Root Zone Management Process. This report was prepared by JAS Communication. I briefly scanned the document and made three initial comments which I happened to write down while discussing the document with a colleague on the phone: pre-IANA contract posturing - ICANN does such a great job; DNS-CERT self justification collateral pre-Brussels; and why expose security risks to the public.
Let me save everyone some time before heading over to the ICANN website to read this document. Its gone! In the URL where this document used to appear, you now get the following text from ICANN: "The IANA report was posted before reviews were done. Our desire is to complete the reviews and post the report as soon as possible."
While I eagerly await the ICANN spin doctors attempt to explain this one to the world, here is the likely truth. A light bulb went off in someone's head that it is not smart to publicly expose security flaws in the DNS infrastructure, notwithstanding ICANN's self serving goal of positioning themselves for the IANA contract rebid and justifying their grand DNS CERT ambitions, OR a further indication that ICANN has not properly handled the transition of new senior management as smooth as the community expects in connection with ICANN's crown jewel.
So in less than five days, ICANN has managed to turn in its single action revolver and decide to douse itself in gasoline and start flicking a lighter. MESSAGE TO ICANN BOARD - WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE - YOU HAVE A PROBLEM AND IF YOU DO NOT ACT QUICKLY THERE MIGHT NOT BE AN ICANN AROUND MUCH LONGER.
If there are any ICANN Board members reading this blog post, please help save the organization from self implosion. I have invested over eleven years of my life in trying to make the ICANN model work. Until the ICANN Board remembers that ICANN is primarily a technical coordinating body, it will continue to get itself into trouble every time it insists on sticking its fingers into operational issues. One of the first lessons I learned as a young engineer was K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid). ICANN needs to keep it simple by focusing on technical coordination and leaving operational issues to other more qualified bodies.
Written by Michael D. Palage, Adjunct Fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation
Follow CircleID on Twitter
More under: DNS, DNSSEC, ICANN, Internet Governance, Regional Registries