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<p class="dbfca0c5-06ab-45e7-ae3c-2401c5c42c0d">Please see the note below. If there is any way that my partners Rick Boucher and Cam Kerry can assist in Washington we stand ready to help. <br>
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<font face="Tahoma" size="2"><b>From:</b> Boucher, Rick<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, May 26, 2016 01:16:34 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Gregory, Holly<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Good summary of Senate IANA transition hearing<br>
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<div>Holly and colleagues,</div>
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<div>Here is the Communications Daily summary of the hearing. Takeaways:</div>
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<div>1. Rubio has support for a transition delay from several committee Republicans. In fact yesterday he sent a letter to NTIA which was consigned by Sen. Johnson, Blunt , Heller and Sullivan asking for an indefinite delay. Other Republicans were positive
about keeping the transition on track. </div>
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<div>2. Chairman Thune said in interviews that his mind is not made up on a delay and that he wants to see where consensus on the committee lies. That comment underscores the urgent need for parties that support the transition to weigh in with Thune with arguments
for moving forward. </div>
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<div>3. Yesterday the House Appropriations Committee approved the Commerce Department appropriations bill which includes a continuation of the ban on NTIA spending money to complete the transition. There may be ways around this barrier such as allowing the
IANA contract to expire, but lobby efforts should also be directed to the appropriations process. </div>
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<div>Rick</div>
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<p><span style="font-size:14pt; font-family:BrownExtraBoldCondensed">Stakeholders Dispute Likelihood<br>
</span><span style="font-size:20pt; font-family:BrownExtraBoldCondensed">Rubio Urges IANA Transition Delay, Generates Some Senate Commerce Interest</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">Debate during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday on the Internet Assigned Numbers </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">Authority (IANA) transition centered
on the perceived merits and consequences of proposed delays of the transition, as expected (see </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT; color:rgb(102,179,243)"><a dir="ltr" href="tel:1605230059">1605230059</a></span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">).
Several committee Republicans expressed interest in seeking the </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">delay via an extension of NTIA’s current contract with ICANN to administer the IANA functions, but their interest didn’t appear
to be strong enough to signal actual momentum in favor of a delay, stakeholders said </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">in interviews. The IANA transition faced other roadblocks on Capitol Hill Tuesday, including the House</span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">Appropriations
Committee’s retention of a rider in its proposed FY 2017 Department of Commerce budget </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">that would extend an existing ban on NTIA’s use of funds on the IANA transition. House Appropriations
cleared the Commerce budget on a voice vote Tuesday with the IANA transition rider intact. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, didn’t attend the Senate Commerce hearing </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">but is circulating a draft bill </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">aimed
at barring NTIA from proceeding with the transition. The full contours of Cruz’s draft bill were </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">unclear at our deadline, but a domain names industry lobbyist told us the bill was likely to
track with </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">Cruz’s previous efforts to bring approval of the IANA transition up for a vote in both the House and Senate. The draft bill “is consistent with what [Cruz’s] position has been all
along” on the transition, said Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., in an interview. “I don’t think that should come as a surprise to anybody. Stopping [the transition] completely from moving forward is going to be hard but I do think the</span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">suggestion
that we make sure that we have all the I’s dotted and all the T’s crossed before going forward </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">seems somewhat reasonable.” Meanwhile, House Appropriations has voted during a markup Tuesday
to </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">retain a rider in the committee’s proposed FY 2017 Department of Commerce budget that would extend an </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">existing ban on NTIA’s
use of funds on the IANA transition. House Appropriations cleared the Commerce budget on a voice vote.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., publicly backed an IANA transition delay Tuesday</span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">, saying he planned to send a letter to NTIA Administrator
Larry Strickling asking NTIA to extend its IANA contract for an un- </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">speci ed period. Rubio’s letter, rst circulated last week, argues a delay is needed to “ensure that the many </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">changes
in the transition proposal are implemented, operate as envisioned, and do not contain unforeseen</span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">problems” (see </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT; color:rgb(102,179,243)"><a dir="ltr" href="tel:1605180063">1605180063</a></span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">).
Rubio told us Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., already signed onto his letter and “there are others that I hope will sign on today.” The proposed delay “I'm outlining is a prudent one,” Rubio told us. “I'm not saying never [go ahead with the transition], I'm saying
let’s be cautious about it because it’s an important issue.” </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">IANA transition supporters and skeptics testifying Tuesday offered familiar assessments of the tran- sition’s current status, with Heritage Foundation fellow Brett Schaefer arguing, even though
he supports the </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">transition’s goals, that “we need to proceed cautiously” with the transition process. Schaefer has proposed<br>
</span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">a two-year delay of the transition to allow time to evaluate how ICANN operates under governance chang- </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">es effected by the
transition (see </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT; color:rgb(102,179,243)"><a dir="ltr" href="tel:1603170051">1603170051</a></span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">). It would be “foolish to move forward”
with the kinds of </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">changes envisioned in ICANN’s transition-related plans without more extensive “beta testing,” said Ameri- </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">cans
for Limited Government President Rick Manning.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">IANA transition supporters </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">told Senate Commerce that any U.S. government-sanctioned delay of the transition would harm international
support for the multistakeholder Internet governance model. Wiley </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">Rein telecom and Internet governance lawyer David Gross, speaking for the Internet Governance Coalition, said a delay of the
transition will strengthen the argument against the multistakeholder model advanced by </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">China, Russia and others. Those countries would “welcome such a decision” because it would “signal very
clearly that the U.S. government has changed its position” on the role of governments in making decisions about Internet governance, Gross said. It’s “neither sustainable nor necessary for the U.S. government to retain its unique role forever,” said NetChoice
Executive Director Steve DelBianco. “Retaining that role increases the risks you are worried about.” </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">“Once we move past a certain point, there is no leverage to pull back,” Rubio said during the hear- </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">ing. “If this thing goes off
the rails, if it in fact gets used in a nefarious way, what leverage do we have to </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">pull back on it?” Other Senate Commerce Republicans also raised concerns about the IANA transition pro- </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">cess,
with Johnson questioning whether the transition was really necessary unless something in the current IANA functions framework is “actually broken.” Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said he believes China and </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">other
authoritarian governments would continue to threaten the multistakeholder model via efforts at the </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">U.N.’s ITU and elsewhere regardless of whether the IANA transition occurs.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">Thune said during the hearing a possible delay of the transition isn’t an “unreasonable proposal,” </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">but later told us he hadn’t
“made any nal decisions at this point” whether to back a delay. “I'm going to </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">take what we heard today and give it some thought, chat with some of my colleagues on the committee and </span><span style="font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size:13pt">gure
out what their consensus is,” Thune told us. “There’s obviously been a lot of work put into this and there were compelling arguments on both sides.”</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">Despite some committee members’ interest in delaying the IANA transition, “I didn’t hear anything at this hearing that would make me think that the transition can’t happen” when the current NTIA
contract </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">expires, said Phil Corwin, principal of e-commerce and IP law consultancy Virtualaw. “I didn’t sense there was a lot of traction in favor or a delay. They explored a lot of the existing
concerns with the transition<br>
but I don’t believe this committee’s going to move to intervene” against it at this point. Senators who </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">indicated they might be interested in seeking a transition delay had previously voice
skepticism about the</span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">transition process, “so I don’t think there was any momentum there,” Gross told us. “I think there is a very </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">interesting
split in tactics but there’s still unanimity about the importance of ensuring governments stay</span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">out” of Internet governance.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">Other Senate Commerce members indicated after the hearing their position on the IANA transition </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">hadn’t materially changed. “I just
want to make sure that we don’t cut off our nose to spite our face,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. “If a delay is going to make it more dif cult to get the multistakeholder pro</span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">- gram that
will protect our interests, I don’t want our delay to be an excuse for the Russians and the Chinese </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">to say ‘we've got to go to the U.N.’ and remove us from the process as much as possible.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said she’s inclined to continue to support NTIA </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">moving ahead with the </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">transition
“provided the NTIA report nds that [ICANN] has met their criteria and that we're on track.” Ayo</span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">- </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">tte said she does want further
clari cation “about what the understanding is to ensure the U.S. government’s exclusive use” of the .gov and .mil top-level domains. Ayotte and other committee members raised concerns during the hearing about how U.S. government use of those TLDs would be
affected by the IANA transition.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">U.S. government use of the TLDs isn’t affected by the transition as those domains</span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">“are not part of the IANA functions contract or
related root zone management responsibilities,” an NTIA spokeswoman</span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">said in an email. The TLDs “cannot be sold or transferred without explicit agreement rst from the current administrators of
those domains—namely, the U.S. government. However, in light of concerns posed by Congress, we have taken steps with ICANN that will reaf rm the U.S. government as the administrators of .mil and .gov, and that will require express approval from the U.S. government
before any changes associ</span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">- </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">ated with the administration of .mil and .gov can be made.” </span><span style="font-size:13pt; font-family:TimesNewRomanPS; font-weight:700; font-style:italic">—
Jimm Phillips </span></p>
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RICK BOUCHER<br>
Partner<br>
Sidley Austin LLP<br>
1501 K Street, N.W.<br>
Washington, DC 20005<br>
+1 202 736 8290<br>
rboucher@sidley.com<br>
www.sidley.com
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