I have seen an assertion the beckwith burr at the CATO insititute in answer to a question threatened to turn ICANN into a government contractor to render it immune from suit. I consider this to be an irrelevant threat for the following reasons. Let's say she were foolish enough to try it an d ICANN is declared to be an instrumentality of the US gov 't. 1. overnight all pretense that ICANN is international vanishes 2. if NTIA has no legally defensible authority to to act in this arena, it certainly has no authority to turn Icann into an instrument of the US government via a grant of immunity from suit. 3. if it did do this, then an instrumentality of the US gov't is subject to gov't constraints, subject to FOIA and subject to the administrative procedures act and other mandates for openness and accountability - requirements that ICANN could not afford to have imposed on it. **************************************************************** The COOK Report on Internet Index to seven years of the COOK Report 431 Greenway Ave, Ewing, NJ 08618 USA Exec summaries, glossary etc (609) 882-2572 (phone & fax) http://cookreport.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] What's Behind Ican and How it Will Impact the Future of the Internet http://cookreport.com/icannregulate.shtml ****************************************************************
