Your Safety or ICANN Participation: Take Your Pick
Next ICANN meeting in Mexico City ought to be postponed and moved to a safer location.
The next Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) meeting is in Mexico City March 1-6. I’ve never been to an ICANN meeting, but would like to. Mexico City is just a short flight from Austin so it would seem ideal. Except that I don’t carry kidnapping insurance.
ICANN is an international organization. It’s great that it holds meetings all across the world. But security and stabililty must be considered. To be fair, it scheduled next month’s meeting well in advance of the current security meltdown in Mexico. But Mexico City has always been an “at risk” city, and ICANN needs to take that into consideration when planning events.
Mexico City is not safe. The entire country right now has a travel alert from the U.S. Department of State. I have plenty of friends in Austin that travel there on business. They always hire security and avoid No local cabs.
ICANN’s Mexico City meeting web site has a security warning that reads “As in any other big city, it is notable to take responsibility for your personal safety and exercise precaution.”
True, but Mexico City is not just any big city.
In the future, ICANN ought to pick places that don’t have U.S. Department of State travel alerts. Fortunately, the next two meetings are in Sydney and Seoul. Allthough a longer trip for me, I’m more inclined to make one of those than to take the short trip to Mexico.
