A quick search on Google or Yahoo! news will pull up scores of articles on the latest WSIS developments. I can't link them all here, but my general reaction to the "news" that (a) root zone control will remain under ICANN's authority and U.S. oversight; and (b) a new forum will be created to talk about other, non-DNS, Internet-related issues...isn't really news at all. Wasn't that always going to be the outcome? Some of the stories talk about who "won" and "lost," who "capitulated" and who "compromised," but I don't see it in those terms at all. Viewed from afar, this outcome has been certain for a very long time. (See related points in this Internetnews.com article).

ICANN Board member-elect Susan Crawford comments that "ICANN needs to strengthen its legitimacy so that it is apparent to the world that ICANN doesn't need oversight from a UN body or any other multi-government institution." I think that's right. The new U.N.-sponsored forum also will have to prove its own legitimacy so it is apparent that it can deal with the even weightier issues it has been given. And if the new forum aspires to oversight, the task of legitimacy is all the more important. If the forum doesn't succeed in making progress on some of the seemingly intractable issues before it, it can't stake a claim as the rightful successor to the U.S. on ICANN oversight.

If things work the way I hope they do, the two organizations can learn from each other, borrow from what the other is doing well, and perhaps even compete for legitimacy. That wouldn't be a bad thing.

I think I'd like to attend the Greek summit next year, even if I'm just an observer. I'm not sure what the summit will be about, what the issues will be, or what I could even add to the dialogue, but I think it's going to be an important meeting. It would be nice to see it first hand.