Controversy trails Beckstrom’s tenure @ ICANN

FOLLOWING reported controversy over the state of the President of the global Internet coordinating agency, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Mr. Rod Beckstrom, stakeholders are now divided.

ITRealms Online recalls that Mr. Beckstrom was elected as the president and chief executive officer, ICANN on July 1, 2009 for a four-year tenure, which is due to be completed by July 1, 2012, but was purportedly sacked by the board of ICANN, while he was claiming that he resigned.

The official statement from ICANN informed that Mr. Beckstrom would continue to fulfill his term as ICANN’s President and CEO, which will be completed on July 1, 2012, but does not have the intension to recontest at the end of the first term.

The same statement quoted Mr. Beckstrom as saying “I can summarize my time here in four words: strong execution, great teambuilding,” an indication industry observers clearly shows that he has actually been relieved of his position as ICANN president.

Equally, as at about 4.20pm on August 17, Beckstrom wrote in his Tweet wall, “I have decided to wrap up my service at ICANN July 2012. Press release soon.”

Some industry observers alleged that Mr. Beckstrom may have matched on lots of shoes during his three-year tenure in ICANN culminating in his intensions not to recontest at the end of his tenure.

An estimated seven senior officials of ICANN purportedly reported to have reluctantly resigned from ICANN or sacked in the last three years of Beckstrom, which industry analysts said was not a good omen for his style of leadership.

ITRealms Online investigation revealed that the likes of the former vice president of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Paul Levins, his colleague in the Global Partnership, Ms Theresa Swinehart, former chief operating officer, Mr. Doug Brent, former International Relations Adviser to President and CEO at ICANN, former British Ambassador Nick Thorne, former General Manager, Internet Assigned Names Authority (IANA) at ICANN, Mr. David Conrad, former Chief Security Advisor, Mr. Greg Rattray, and former Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Kevin Wilson among others.

However, the official press statement from ICANN made available to ITRealms Online at the weekend quoted Beckstrom as saying, “I am incredibly proud of ICANN’s achievements throughout my tenure. In two short years we have advanced this organization to a new level of professionalism and productivity, and turned it into a genuinely multinational organization that will serve the world community long after my time here.”

Beckstrom’s notable accomplishments were also listed to include the negotiation and signing of the Affirmation of Commitments, the historic 2009 agreement with the United States’ Government that moved ICANN’s oversight from one government to the world, and the signing of the Internet’s root with Domain Name System Security (DNSSEC).

The introduction of internationalized domain names under his watch, ICANN said, has allowed millions of Internet users to access the Internet entirely in their primary language script.

Summarizing his time so far, Beckstrom it has been an experience embodied in “strong execution, great teambuilding. We have built a world-class executive team, and elevated ICANN’s stature through strategic relationships with governments, businesses, top technology firms and international organizations.”

According to Beckstrom, a programme to launch new generic top-level domains, a major change to the domain name system was approved in June and to be launched next year.

ICANN’s agreement with the US government, the IANA functions contract, he said, expires in March, but Beckstrom emphasized his commitment to bring the contract renewal to a successful conclusion, assuring that he remains committed to leading this critical organization with the utmost dedication, and “to living up to our common vision: One world, one Internet.”

Also commenting, the Chairman of ICANN’s Board of Directors, Mr. Steve Crocker said “The Board of Directors fully supports Rod through the completion of his July 2012 term and is committed to continuing the collaboration that has produced so many benefits for ICANN and for the global Internet.”

Formed in 1998, ICANN is a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation with participants from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet’s unique identifiers.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is responsible for managing and coordinating the Domain Name System (DNS) to ensure that every address is unique and that all users of the Internet could find all valid addresses.

ICANN does this by overseeing the distribution of unique Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and domain names as well as ensuring that each domain name maps to the correct IP address.

Also, ICANN is responsible for accrediting the domain name registrars, which means that ICANN identify and set minimum standards for the performance of registration functions, to recognize persons or entities meeting those standards, in addition to entering into an accreditation agreement that sets forth the rules and procedures applicable to the provision of Registrar Services.

Remmy Nweke
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