And you would find Google how?
And some countries (or, more likely, the reporter) are idiots, because removing my domain's registration wouldn't unplug me at all. It would just make my stuff a little harder to find. (But anybody can register a .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz and many countries don't care who registers in their domains, either (e.g. .tv).)
For a value of "thousands" closer to a dozen. Or, perhaps, one.
With .us we would. But what happens when such an international body decides to globalize censorship? Say, it decides you lose your domain if you host reporting that didn't come from a "licensed reporter"?
Right now, such a country can possibly act against domains in its tld, and sites within its borders. Someone trying to remove a foreign .com domain for that will just get laughed at.
Seth
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, to me it is sort of a toss-up. Which to you is more opressive? Tons of spam and scam and phishing each day via a coordinator (ICANN) who essentially turns a blind eye to the mess that the internet has become in the past decade, or some _other_ coordinator who *might or might not* attempt to exercise some censorship on a few web sites here and there. Might or might not ... but would most assuredly instruct registrars and ISPs under them to clamp down HARD on spammers, etc. I always laugh when I hear people complain that some other administrator would (gasp!) probably censor users and sites, all the while going ho-hum and shrugging their shoulders while scammers, scammers and phishermen have almost shut us down now, so fearful are many users to sign their real email addresses or participate in any real, meaningful way. I mean, even if it is true that ICANN is sort of backed into a corner with the contracts they have out on the net now, even asking them to give favorable consideration to eventually phase out their existing contracts in favor of differnet ones just gets a blank stare in return. Some of us would just as soon take our chances with someone else running things. That is why I feel the arguments about how 'some other organization in charge might be censors, etc' are so bogus. PAT]