All, I seriously doubt that ICANN will be moving to Switzerland or released from DOC/NTIA oversight any time soon or in or by the end of 2009. Many of our members outside of the US believe such a change would create chaos worse than anyone can likely imagine for the Internet. FYI: http://www.thestandard.com/people/i-lamont550036 ICANN's current Joint Project Agreement with the US Commerce Department is set to expire in September of 2009, and ICANN wants to become more autonomous and http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/03/07/icann-looks-toward-end-us-agreeme... switch to a global governance model, says ICANN's executive officer. The agreement between the nonprofit ICANN and the Commerce Department has been in place since 1998, and was renewed in 2006 http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/29/1843254&tid=95 despite international protests. A few US-based groups named in the article including the Center for Democracy and Technology, the trade group TechNet and a conservative think tank iGrowthGlobal would like the agreement with the Commerce Department to continue, in part to provide 'accountability. ' The ICANN officer quoted in the article says expiration of the Commerce Department agreement would not remove accountability, as ICANN still has a contract with the US to operate the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority and must follow California law governing nonprofits. The Register is running a related story about http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/05/us_kills_european_based_cuba_website... why some people are uncomfortable with the United States' influence on ICANN. We discussed ICANN's http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/24/1241232&tid=266 request for independence a few months ago. Regards, Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 277k members/stakeholders strong!) "Obedience of the law is the greatest freedom" - Abraham Lincoln "Credit should go with the performance of duty and not with what is very often the accident of glory" - Theodore Roosevelt "If the probability be called P; the injury, L; and the burden, B; liability depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by P: i.e., whether B is less than PL." United States v. Carroll Towing (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947] =============================================================== Updated 1/26/04 CSO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security IDNS. div. of Information Network Eng. INEG. INC. ABA member in good standing member ID 01257402 E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com My Phone: 214-244-4827