[anti-abuse-wg] anti-abuse-wg Digest, Vol 17, Issue 11

> Thinking about it, just in the last day or two I've realized that
> RIPE, ARIN, IANA, ICANN, and all such authorities are in many ways
> quite analogous to our Federal Reserve here in the United States. In
> both cases, the entities have much authority and are widely perceived
> as having charters that somehow commit them to pursuit of the public
> good.  But in both cases, the reality is rather different... these
> entities are in fact merely commercial associations of business
> interests that are pledged, if not by law then by contract, to never
> reveal even a smidgeon of their commercial member's dirty laundry to
> any "outsider", and their iron-clad commitment to this goal always
> takes precedence over any other consideration.

I agree. The main goal of these organisations for me seems to be not
protecting public goods but protecting the commercial interests of their
members. So they aren't nonprofit organizations?

Best regards,

- Karl-Josef Ziegler