ARTICLE: By Bobbie Johnson, Guardian, 30 September 2009

Important and good milestone: ICANN breaks off from U.S. Commerce.

Icann chief Rod Beckstrom, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur and Washington insider who took over running the organisation in July, said there had been legitimate concerns that some countries were developing alternative internets as a way of routing around American control.

"It's rumoured that there are multiple experiments going on with countries forking the internet, various countries have discussed this," he said. "This is a very significant shift because it takes the wind out of our opponents."

I know Beckstrom from TED and various interactions since. I am extremely pleased to see him go from DHS to this. Very smart guy and good person.

(Thanks: David Stewart)