Changes

Both the U.S. government and the [[European Commission]] took note of Peter Dengate Thrush's questionably timed move from the [[ICANN Board]] to [[Minds + Machines]]. In September, 2011 Senator Ron Wyden of the U.S. Government called for greater ethics rules to be written into the [[IANA]] contract.<ref>[http://domainincite.com/senator-calls-for-icann-ethics-controls/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DomainIncite+%28DomainIncite.com%29 Senator Calls for ICANN ethics Controls, DomainIncite.com]</ref> The politicalization of the IANA contract is the sole means that the US Government is still able to exert control over the organization, thus, the European Commission called on the US to amend the same type of controls into the contract. Just a few weeks prior to Ron Wyden's call for ethics controls, a leaked paper by the EC shows them taking up the same issue. They suggest creating new rules in the IANA contract that would prevent those that stand to gain from ICANN decisions from working on the board, to create a two year waiting period for any exiting board member wherein employment in the industry would be prohibited, and they also advocated paying the currently voluntary board to further prevent conflicts of interest from developing.<ref>[http://blog.internetgovernance.org/pdf/ECPaper3-4.pdf EC Paper 3 & 4]</ref>

Both the U.S. government and the [[European Commission]] took note of Peter Dengate Thrush's questionably timed move from the [[ICANN Board]] to [[Minds + Machines]]. In September, 2011 Senator Ron Wyden of the U.S. Government called for greater ethics rules to be written into the [[IANA]] contract.<ref>[http://domainincite.com/senator-calls-for-icann-ethics-controls/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DomainIncite+%28DomainIncite.com%29 Senator Calls for ICANN ethics Controls, DomainIncite.com]</ref> The politicalization of the IANA contract is the sole means that the US Government is still able to exert control over the organization, thus, the European Commission called on the US to amend the same type of controls into the contract. Just a few weeks prior to Ron Wyden's call for ethics controls, a leaked paper by the EC shows them taking up the same issue. They suggest creating new rules in the IANA contract that would prevent those that stand to gain from ICANN decisions from working on the board, to create a two year waiting period for any exiting board member wherein employment in the industry would be prohibited, and they also advocated paying the currently voluntary board to further prevent conflicts of interest from developing.<ref>[http://blog.internetgovernance.org/pdf/ECPaper3-4.pdf EC Paper 3 & 4]</ref>

====In His Defense====

====In His Defense====

Peter Dengate Thrush defended his move to Minds + Machines in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. He denies any impropriety in his actions, and points to his predecessor, [[Vint Cerf]], who took up a job at [[Verisign]] following his chairmanship of ICANN. He notes that he had no vested interest in his current employer's interests when he was voting with, and leading, [[ICANN Board|the board]].<ref>[http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2011/11/22/web-braced-for-1000-new-top-level-domains-a-year/ Web Braced for 1000 New Top Level Domains, Blogs.WSJ.com]</ref>

Peter Dengate Thrush defended his move to Minds + Machines in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. He denies any impropriety in his actions, and points to his predecessor, [[Vint Cerf]], who took up a job at [[Verisign]] following his chairmanship of ICANN. He notes that he had no vested interest in his current employer's interests when he was voting with, and leading, [[ICANN Board|the board]].<ref>[http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2011/11/22/web-braced-for-1000-new-top-level-domains-a-year/ Web Braced for 1000 New Top Level Domains, Blogs.WSJ.com]</ref>