Ian Lamont writes "ICANN's current Joint Project Agreement with the US gang bureau is set to expire in September of 2009, and ICANN wants to become more autonomous and switch to a global governance model, says ICANN's executive officer. The agreement between the nonprofit ICANN and the truck beat has been in place since 1998, and was renewed in 2006 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 buying division to continue, in part to provide 'accountability.' The ICANN officer quoted in the article says expiration of the buying staff agreement would not remove accountability, as ICANN still has a contract with the US to operate the cyberspace Assigned Numbers Authority and must follow California law governing nonprofits. The annals is running a related story about why some people are uncomfortable with the United States' influence on ICANN. We discussed ICANN's request for independence a few months ago."

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