For more than a decade, the U.S. government has served as a referee in the geopolitical game that constitutes global Internet governance through its oversight of ICANN, the global governing body for the domain name system. This management structure was not designed to give an advantage to any particular stakeholders, but to make sure that there was a level playing field for all. Given the numerous instances of minimal transparency and oversight that have been cited by advocates even while ICANN was under the limited supervision of the U.S. government, how far might ICANN go if left to its own devices? Given this, strong accountability measures need to be instituted now before the U.S. relinquishes its oversight authority.
