[At-Large] 9th Circuit Court ruling on ICANN Contract.

[Karl Auerbach]

On 01/11/2011 11:25 AM, Evan Leibovitch wrote:

> I continue to be bewildered by the baseless assertion that one cannot have
> speak freely on the Internet without owning a domain.

Sure - but lack of a domain name is a handicap.

By way of analogy - One can speak freely without owning a TV network 
(such as Fox News), but it sure makes your voice a lot louder if you 
have one.

Similarly one can speak on the net without a domain name, but that means 
giving up a lot of decibels in the form of search engine listings, 
historical persistence, reputation, cross-linkage with other forms of 
speech/media, control of the message, etc.

And by forcing individuals to give up their power of being anonymous 
with a domain name that one thereby gives greater power to aggregate 
structures - largely corporations - that can easily launder their 
identity through any number of intermediaries.

It's sort of like stuffing a rag into the mouths of individuals on the 
internet while giving a megaphone to others.

	--karl--