5 years ago... Icann slammed by net guru Pope

02.06.99: Global web naming group Icann (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is failing to account for the interests of end users in its domain name reorganisation, according to a leading Internet guru.

Ivan Pope, founder and CEO of web company NetNames, said Icann has failed to include end user representatives in its Domain Name Supporting Organisation.

02.06.04: Far be it from silicon.com to make a story sound more interesting that it really is, but admit it, you thought it was the head of the Roman Catholic church who was having a go at Icann.

This writer was certainly fooled when clicking on this one from the archives. Which is good, because very little else happened five years ago today.

While it does show a level of awareness which may be beyond the ageing Pontiff, it wouldn't be entirely without precedent - his Holiness has waded in to a number of net-related issues and has made full use of the technology available to him. The Vatican has been a regular implementer of major IT projects - signing a security deal recently, and famously opening a call centre to deal with enquiries from pilgrims heading to Rome.

But back to the other Pope, Ivan. NetNames was sold in the December 1999 to former rival Netbenefit for £1.1m in cash.