ICANN Disputes Wall Street Journal Column's IANA Transition Antitrust Criticism
ICANN General Counsel John Jeffrey disputed former Wall Street Journal publisher Gordon Crovitz's criticisms of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority changeover, saying in a letter to the editor released Thursday that ICANN “is not, and never has been exempted from”…
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U.S. antitrust laws. Crovitz wrote in a column that ICANN had an “antitrust exemption.” Crovitz’s column “disregards the diligent work of the ICANN Community, including U.S. businesses, academia, technical experts, end users and civil society, who developed a plan for the transition that specifically ensures the role of [the Department of Commerce] is not replaced by another government or intergovernmental organization,” Jeffrey said. If the IANA transition occurs as planned Oct. 1, “ICANN will have no mandate, need or reason to seek to be overseen by another governmental group for protection,” Jeffrey said. Americans for Limited Government, which has been critical of the IANA transition, claimed last week that NTIA “failed to consider the antitrust ramifications” of the transition based on the results of a Freedom of Information Act request. The agency said its review of transition plans didn’t find “any significant competitive issues” (see 1608290047).