ICANN new CEO gives inaugural speech

ICANN's new CEO, Fadi Chehade, gave a well-received inaugural speech to attendees at the organization's meeting in Prague.

In the highly personal address, he promised the organization would listen more, internationalize through understanding others' culture, improve its technical competence and make decisions solely in the public interest.

Meanwhile, outgoing CEO Rod Beckstrom gave a speech in which he listed his achievements while in charge, including a controversial claim that he had personally written and directed the "Affirmation of Commitments" which saw ICANN gain autonomy from the US government.

That claim was subsequently picked apart by the organization's former head of corporate affairs Paul Levins in a public blog post. Levins noted that discussions had been going on for 18 months before Beckstrom took the job and the first draft was produced prior to him entering the organization.