From: "Thomas Steven" <StevenT@wyeth.com>
To: <dnstransition@ntia.doc.gov>
Date: Mon, Jul 3, 2006 5:21 AM
Subject: ICANN contract renewal consultation

Dear Sir,

In the light of recent events it would appear that exclusive US
government control over the authorities that run the Internet is a bad
thing. The .xxx domain issue seems to show that darker forces in the US
such as the religious lunatic fringe can effectively prevent sensible
decisions being made. Instead of having the .xxx domain as a bin we can
put all the smut into, simplifying blocking of unacceptable content, we
continue with business as usual, where the US generates more porn sites
than any other country, and has an influential lunatic fringe that
basically wants to pretend it isn't so.

I think the issue is that ICANN's impartiality has now been
compromised, and the US government obviously cannot be trusted with sole
responsibility for this vital institution. At the moment the pain level
involved in the existing DNS system is low, but if this kind of
behaviour makes the pain intolerable, a new system not controlled by the
US will emerge instead, please give up or share control now before
something really stupid happens.

Regards,

Thomas Steven