[CCWG-ACCT] FW: NTIA blog post: Stakeholders Continue Historic Work on Internet DNS Transition at ICANN Singapore Meeting

[Paul Rosenzweig]

See below for NTIA take on ICANN52

Paul

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-----Original Message-----
From: Joelle Tessler [mailto:JTessler at ntia.doc.gov] 
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2015 11:46 AM
To: Joelle Tessler
Subject: NTIA blog post: Stakeholders Continue Historic Work on Internet DNS
Transition at ICANN Singapore Meeting

Stakeholders Continue Historic Work on Internet DNS Transition at ICANN
Singapore Meeting

February 19, 2015 

by Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and NTIA
Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/blog/2015/stakeholders-continue-historic-work-intern
et-dns-transition-icann-singapore-meeting

Last week, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
held its 52nd meeting in Singapore, where the global multistakeholder
community continued progress on a proposal to transition the United States
role related to the Internet Domain Name System.

I was pleased to see the amount of energy and professionalism exhibited by
the nearly 1800 participants at the ICANN meeting. The Internet's
stakeholders are driving this transition and are demonstrating that
businesses, technical experts, and civil society groups are best equipped to
set the future direction of the Internet.  Under this multistakeholder
model, no one party can control the Internet or impose its will. And that's
what's enabled the Internet to flourish and evolve into this global medium
that has torn down barriers to free speech and fueled economic growth and
innovation.

 It is so important that we get this transition right. If it doesn't take
place, we will embolden authoritarian regimes to seek greater government
control of the Internet or to threaten to fragment the Internet, which would
result in a global patchwork of regulations and rules that stifle the free
flow of information.

Now that we are nearing the one-year anniversary of our announcement, it is
important to take stock of where this transition process stands.
Stakeholders have organized two major work streams to develop the overall
plan:  one group is focused on the specifics of the IANA functions and the
second is addressing questions of the overall accountability of ICANN to the
global community of Internet stakeholders. 

In the first track, the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group
(ICG), representing more than a dozen Internet stakeholder communities, is
developing proposals for each of the three primary IANA functions - protocol
parameters, numbering, and domain names. Two of the three stakeholder groups
have already finished their draft proposals: the Internet Engineering Task
Force, which is shepherding the protocol parameter proposal, and the five
Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), which worked collaboratively in
developing the numbering proposal. The third group, the ICANN Cross
Community Working Group (CWG) on the naming related functions, continues to
deliberate on how best to assure effective and accountable oversight of
these naming functions in NTIA's absence.    Once a consolidated proposal
has achieved broad community support, the ICG will transmit the final
proposal to the ICANN Board for submission to NTIA.

In the second track, stakeholders are working on a proposal to enhance
ICANN's accountability to the global Internet community in the absence of
the contractual relationship with NTIA.  While it started later than the
IANA transition process, the Accountability working group is making
considerable progress.  It's important that the two tracks remain in sync.
We will only consider a coordinated and complete transition plan.

While in Singapore, I participated in meetings and discussions with ICANN,
other governments and the stakeholder community with respect to the
transition. NTIA also continued to represent the U. S. at the meetings of
ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee. In these discussions, I posed
several questions for stakeholders to consider. I want to ensure that any
proposal  developed by the stakeholder community meets  the conditions NTIA
outlined last March, including: supporting and enhancing the
multistakeholder model; maintaining the security, stability, and resiliency
of the Internet Domain Name System; meeting the needs and expectation of the
global customers and partners of the IANA services; and maintaining the
openness of the Internet. In addition, I want to ensure that our role is not
replaced by a government or intergovernmental organization.

As both groups continue their work, any new process proposed must be tested
to ensure that it actually works. The results will help inform our review of
the final transition proposal.

As for timing, both groups are aiming to deliver a transition plan to us in
the summer. While September 2015 has been a target date, because that is
when the base period of our contract with ICANN expires, we have the
flexibility to extend the contract if the community needs more time to
develop the best plan possible.

The Internet community is undertaking truly historic work at a pivotal
moment in time.  I thank them for their tireless dedication to this effort.
The outcome of this process will impact the way the Internet is governed for
years to come.


Joelle Tessler
Manager of Stakeholder Relations and Outreach National Telecommunications
and Information Administration U.S. Department of Commerce
jtessler at ntia.doc.gov