[CCWG-ACCT] Speech by Larry Strickling

Fri Jul 15 04:33:27 UTC 2016

That was a balanced speech by Larry Strickling, one that clarified to those
in America that "we do not control the Internet. It is simply not true, and
people who really understand the Internet know it is not true. No one
controls the Internet. The Internet is a network of networks that operates
with the cooperation of stakeholders around the world". and at the same
time assured the rest of the world that "Privatizing the domain name system
has been a goal of Democratic and Republican administrations since 1997."

Sivasubramanian M

On Fri, Jul 15, 2016 at 9:53 AM, Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Great speech.
>
> Regards
>
> On 7/15/16, Chris Disspain <chris at disspain.id.au> wrote:
> > All,
> >
> > FYI below the text of a speech Assistant Secretary Strickling just gave
> at
> > the IGF-USA.
> >
> > Video at https://www.igf-usa.org/igf-usa-2106-live-video/
> > <https://www.igf-usa.org/igf-usa-2106-live-video/>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Chris
> >
> >
> > Remarks of Lawrence E. Strickling
> > Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information
> > The Internet Governance Forum USA
> > Washington, D.C.
> > July 14, 2016
> > --As Prepared for Delivery--
> > I come here today to speak out for freedom. Specifically, Internet
> freedom.
> > I come here to speak out for free speech and civil liberties. I come
> here to
> > speak out in favor of the transition of the U.S. government’s
> stewardship of
> > the domain name system to the global multistakeholder community. And I
> come
> > here to speak out against what former NTIA Administrator John Kneuer has
> so
> > aptly called the “hyperventilating hyperbole” that has emerged since
> ICANN
> > transmitted the consensus transition plan to us last March.
> > Protecting Internet freedom and openness has been a key criterion for the
> > IANA transition from the day we announced it in March 2014. The best way
> to
> > preserve Internet freedom is to depend on the community of stakeholders
> who
> > own and operate, transact business and exchange information over the
> myriad
> > of networks that comprise the Internet. Free expression is protected by
> the
> > open, decentralized nature of the Internet, the neutral manner in which
> the
> > technical aspects of the Internet are managed and the commitment of
> > stakeholders to maintain openness. Freedom House reported that “Internet
> > freedom around the world has declined for the fifth consecutive year ...”
> > Its prescription for defending Internet freedom is to encourage the U.S.
> > government to “complet[e] the transition to a fully privatized Domain
> Name
> > System.”
> > What will not be effective to protect Internet freedom is to continue the
> > IANA functions contract. That contract is too limited in scope to be a
> tool
> > for protecting Internet freedom. It simply designates ICANN to perform
> the
> > technical IANA functions of managing the database of protocol parameters,
> > allocating IP numbers and processing changes to the root zone file. It
> does
> > not grant NTIA any authority over ICANN’s day-to-day operations or the
> > organization’s accountability to the stakeholder community. The
> transition
> > plan goes beyond any authority that NTIA or the U.S. government has
> today by
> > enhancing the power of stakeholders to ensure ICANN’s accountability. For
> > example, the U.S. government has no ability to reject an ICANN budget or
> to
> > remove an ICANN board member—two of the new enumerated community powers.
> > Extending the contract, as some have asked us to do, could actually lead
> to
> > the loss of Internet freedom we all want to maintain. The potential for
> > serious consequences from extending the contract beyond the time
> necessary
> > for ICANN to complete implementation of the transition plan is very real
> and
> > has implications for ICANN, the multistakeholder model and the
> credibility
> > of the United States in the global community.
> > Privatizing the domain name system has been a goal of Democratic and
> > Republican administrations since 1997. Prior to our 2014 announcement to
> > complete the privatization, some governments used NTIA’s continued
> > stewardship of the IANA functions to justify their demands that the
> United
> > Nations, the International Telecommunication Union or some other body of
> > governments take control over the domain name system. Failing to follow
> > through on the transition or unilaterally extending the contract will
> only
> > embolden authoritarian regimes to intensify their advocacy for
> > government-led or intergovernmental management of the Internet via the
> > United Nations.
> > Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and retired Vice
> > Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff James Cartwright recently noted in
> > Politico that rejecting or even delaying the transition would be a gift
> to
> > those governments threatened by a free and open Internet. The Global
> > Commission on Internet Governance, a group of leading experts from around
> > the world, echoed this message by recently calling on the U.S.
> Government to
> > adopt the proposal and to meet the September 2016 target date for the
> > transition of the IANA functions. Failure to do so, the Commission said,
> > would “send the wrong message to the international community, increase
> > distrust, and will likely encourage some governments to pursue their own
> > national or even regional Internets.”
> > Over the past two years, the global Internet community, comprised of
> > businesses, technical experts, public interest groups and governments,
> has
> > engaged in one of the most compelling demonstrations of a
> multistakeholder
> > process ever undertaken. The transition plan is a thoughtful proposal
> that
> > was developed through consensus over two years by hundreds of
> stakeholders
> > around the world. Stakeholders spent more than 26,000 working hours on
> the
> > proposal, exchanged more than 33,000 messages on mailing lists, held more
> > than 600 meetings and calls and incurred millions of dollars of legal
> fees.
> > Given the intensive level of effort that went into constructing the
> > transition plan and obtaining support for it from all parts of the ICANN
> > community, it is no surprise that the community supports the transition
> and
> > wants to see the United States follow through on its long-standing,
> > bipartisan commitment to privatize the domain name system.
> > I realize that the transition raises many important questions. None are
> more
> > important than the ones we asked in March 2014 when we laid out the
> criteria
> > for the transition. We said then that the plan must:
> > support and enhance the multistakeholder model of Internet governance;
> > maintain the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet DNS;
> > meet the needs and expectations of the global customers and partners of
> the
> > IANA services; and
> > maintain the openness of the Internet.
> > In addition, we said we would not accept a plan that replaced NTIA’s role
> > with a government-led or intergovernmental organization solution.
> > Upon the community’s completion of the plan, NTIA led an intensive
> > interagency review to ensure the plan met these criteria. On June 9, we
> > found that the plan satisfied each and every one of our criteria. We also
> > evaluated the proposal against relevant internal control principles, as
> > recommended by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). We
> > separately engaged a panel of corporate governance experts to review the
> > ICANN accountability proposal. The experts concluded that the proposal is
> > consistent with sound principles of good governance.
> > Despite the open and transparent two-year process that developed the
> plan,
> > the many pages of documentation provided by the community to describe and
> > support the plan, and the exhaustive review we conducted, misperceptions
> and
> > outright misrepresentations about the plan continue to circulate. I will
> use
> > the remainder of my time to correct the record on many of these claims.
> > Among the most persistent misconceptions is that we are giving away the
> > Internet. First off, we do not control the Internet. It is simply not
> true,
> > and people who really understand the Internet know it is not true. No one
> > controls the Internet. The Internet is a network of networks that
> operates
> > with the cooperation of stakeholders around the world. The most
> significant
> > operational change required by the transition is to end the largely
> clerical
> > role NTIA plays in reviewing updates to the root zone file.
> > Even more extreme (and wrong) is the claim that we are giving the
> Internet
> > away to Russia, China, and other authoritarian governments that want to
> > censor content on the Internet. No one has set forth even a plausible
> > scenario as to how that could happen, and the fact is it simply will not
> > happen as a result of completing the transition.
> > Within ICANN, the transition proposal does not expand the role of
> > governments vis-à-vis other stakeholders. The bylaws retain the
> prohibition
> > on government officials serving as voting board members. The role of
> > governments in ICANN policymaking remains advisory. Under the proposal,
> > governments will continue through the Governmental Advisory Committee
> (GAC)
> > to provide input to the Board in the normal course of business. As is
> > currently the case, the Board is free to reject GAC advice.
> > Today, the Board does give special consideration to consensus GAC advice.
> > The transition proposal codifies current practice through a bylaw change
> > that defines consensus as agreement to which no one formally objects.
> Now it
> > is true that under the proposal, the threshold for rejecting such GAC
> > consensus advice does increase from 50 percent to 60 percent. However,
> given
> > the codification of “consensus” in the bylaws, this standard only
> applies to
> > advice from governments to which no government, including the United
> States,
> > has objected.
> > The GAC has the potential to participate in the Empowered Community, but
> > only at a level commensurate with other stakeholders. Notably, the GAC
> > cannot unilaterally exercise the community powers. Moreover, the bylaws
> > expressly prohibit the GAC from participating in the community powers
> when
> > the issue in contention is a Board action on GAC advice.
> > Some argue that authoritarian countries are not going to give up their
> goal
> > of having governments control the domain name system and that the United
> > States is daft for thinking that this transition will change those
> > countries. We would be silly if we thought that, but that has never been
> our
> > goal. We have never thought we would persuade authoritarian regimes that
> our
> > view of the Internet is the best approach, but what matters is what the
> rest
> > of the world thinks. There we have made great progress over the last few
> > years.
> > At the ITU’s World Conference on International Telecommunications in
> Dubai
> > in 2012, 89 countries joined in a resolution to expand the authority of
> the
> > ITU relative to Internet issues. The United States was in the minority
> that
> > day. However, since then, we have worked hard with countries in the
> > developing world to build support for the multistakeholder model of
> Internet
> > governance. Due in part to our transition announcement and due in part to
> > focused diplomacy of the U.S. government coordinated by the State
> > Department, we have made a lot of progress, as represented by the fact
> that
> > almost 30 of those 89 countries have now demonstrated their support for
> > multistakeholder governance of the domain name system by joining in the
> > Governmental Advisory Committee’s consensus position to move the
> transition
> > proposal forward.
> > Another claim now making the rounds is that the transition plan is a
> radical
> > proposal that is being rushed through by the Obama Administration. How
> can
> > anyone call a longstanding bipartisan policy to privatize the Internet
> > radical? The direction to privatize the domain name system goes back
> nearly
> > twenty years. The community spent two years to develop its plan. No one
> > rushed the community effort. To the contrary, we extended the contract
> for a
> > year when the community said it needed more time to complete its work.
> > Nothing is being rushed here and to suggest otherwise is to ignore the
> > facts.
> > Another false claim is the fear that ICANN will move its headquarters
> abroad
> > once the transition is complete and “flee” the reach of U.S. law.
> However,
> > this ignores the fact that the stakeholder community has spent the last
> two
> > years building an accountability regime for ICANN that at its core
> relies on
> > California law and on ICANN to remain a California corporation.
> > ICANN’s own bylaws confirm that “the principal office for the
> transaction of
> > the business of ICANN shall be in the County of Los Angeles, State of
> > California, United States of America.” ICANN’s Board cannot change this
> > bylaw over the objection of the stakeholder community.  Additionally,
> > ICANN’s Articles of Incorporation already state that ICANN “is organized
> > under California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law.” Changes to
> the
> > Articles of Incorporation now require support of a 75 percent majority of
> > the empowered community. ICANN is a California corporation and will
> remain
> > so.
> > Other claims keep popping up and I do not have time today to correct
> every
> > misstatement being made about the transition. For example, after living
> for
> > two years under an appropriations restriction that prohibits us from
> using
> > appropriated funds to relinquish our responsibility for the domain name
> > system, it is now asserted that this restriction prevents us even from
> > reviewing the transition plan. Yet this claim ignores the fact that at
> the
> > same time Congress approved the restriction, it also directed NTIA "to
> > conduct a thorough review and analysis of any proposed transition" and to
> > provide quarterly reports on the process to Congress.
> > In the last couple of weeks, I have heard new concerns about the possible
> > antitrust liability of a post-transition ICANN. However, this concern
> > ignores the fact that ICANN in its policymaking activities has always
> been
> > and will continue to be subject to antitrust laws.
> > I could go on but let me close with some observations on the
> > multistakeholder process. There is no question that within ICANN, the
> last
> > two years have strengthened the multistakeholder model as it is practiced
> > there. Moreover, the accomplishments of the process at ICANN are serving
> as
> > a powerful example to governments and other stakeholders of how to use
> the
> > process to reach consensus on the solutions to complex and difficult
> issues.
> > However, as we work toward completing the transition, we must recognize
> that
> > the multistakeholder model will continue to face challenges. It is
> important
> > that we remain dedicated to demonstrating our support and respect for the
> > multistakeholder approach in all the venues where it is used.
> > We do not show respect for the multistakeholder process when we wait
> until
> > the process is over and the community has reached consensus and then
> propose
> > a two-year trial of the plan without ever asking the community to
> consider
> > such an option. We do not show respect for the multistakeholder process
> when
> > we do not participate for two years and then afterwards say we preferred
> an
> > option that the community considered and rejected.
> > Closer to home, here at the IGF-USA, we need to respect the process by
> > working to expand participation beyond the Beltway and to support the
> > inclusion of new stakeholders on a nationwide basis in an open,
> transparent,
> > and inclusive manner. This kind of growth requires a strong foundation,
> > which is why NTIA supports the work of the IGF-USA’s new Sustainability
> > Working Group. This group is working to develop a governance structure to
> > guide the organizational process and to ensure that there is diverse,
> > inclusive and multistakeholder engagement.
> > In closing, thanks to all of you for your interest and involvement in
> > IGF-USA and in the IANA transition. I want to particularly thank those of
> > you here today who actually contributed your time, effort, and
> creativity to
> > reaching consensus on the IANA transition plan. Your hard work and
> > dedication has been truly inspiring.
> > Thank you for listening.
> >
>
>
> --
> Barrack O. Otieno
> +254721325277
> +254733206359
> Skype: barrack.otieno
> PGP ID: 0x2611D86A
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-- 
Sivasubramanian M <https://www.facebook.com/sivasubramanian.muthusamy>
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