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Metrolink Tries to Censor Bloggers
A paranoid transit agency spends public money threatening critical Web sites
By MAX TAVES
Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - 7:00 pm
“The Address Supporting Organization (ASO) is one of the supporting organizations that the ICANN Bylaws say should be "formed through community consensus". The purpose of the ASO is to review and develop recommendations on Internet Protocol (IP) address policy and to advise the ICANN Board. In July 1999, the three existing Regional Internet Registries (APNIC, ARIN, and RIPE NCC) submitted a proposal to form the ASO on the basis of a Memorandum of Understanding. ICANN accepted this proposal on 26 August, 1999."
The following is an abstract concerning the functions of the ASO, “Each of the Regional Internet Registries appoints three members of the ASO Address Council. Two members are selected by the regional policy forum of each of the RIRs and one member is appointed from the Executive Board of each RIR. The purpose of the AC is to oversee recommendations on IP address policy. This will include the management of policy development activities. The other major aspect of the role of the Address Council is the appointment of Directors to the ICANN Board of Directors.”
“The ASO was formed on 19 October 1999, when the MoU was signed by representatives of APNIC, ARIN, and RIPE NCC and ICANN. This happened during the ARIN Open Policy Meeting in Denver, USA. LACNIC signed the MoU in 30 October 2002 following its official recognition as an RIR. A new Memorandum of Understanding between ICANN and the Number Resource Organization, on behalf of the Regional Internet Registries, was signed on 21 October 2004 at ARIN XIV in Reston, Virginia. Upon recognition by ICANN as a Regional Internet Registry, AfriNIC signed an MoU with the NRO on 24 April 2005 to become the NRO’s 5th member.”The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a non-profit organization designed to manage both Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and Domain Names. Previously, on behalf of other institutions, the U.S. Government oversaw this task prior to 1998. ICANN’s role in the control over this central function of the Internet has lead to much opposition by competing groups seeking control of both Domain Names and IP addresses. Under the direction of the California Nonprofit Public Benefit Law, ICANN is organized under a board of directors composed of six representatives from the following organizations: The Generic Names Supporting Organization, The Country Code Names Supporting Organization and The Address Supporting Organization.
ICANN’s website offers a very comprehensive source of information drawn from different news media outlets. Current news can be found under several tabs including ‘News’, ‘Current Topics’, ‘Events’ and ‘Resources’. Newsletters as well as Blogs can be accessed to learn more about ICANN. ICANN’s structure is detailed under the ‘structure’ tab and provides valuable insight into corporate governance. ICANN’s internal processes and current workload can be viewed under the ‘processes’ tab and provides information ranging from accountability and transparency to management and operating principles. ICANN’s website also allows users to access a range of corporate documents from the articles of incorporation to the minutes from various board meetings.