Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, addressing attendees at the opening ceremony of ICANN‘s 51st public meeting in Los Angeles, declared unwavering support for the United States government’s decision to transfer stewardship of the IANA functions to the global multistakeholder community and not to any one single organization. “Let me be clear about this. The United States …
The Internet community is proving to be a force which is not looking back, this comes in light of a recent surprising bylaw change proposal that would require 2/3 of the voting members of the Board to vote to act inconsistently with a piece of GAC advice. Currently, the Bylaws require a simple majority of …
By Rep. John Shimkus on rollcall.com Summary: In theory, this transition follows a long-anticipated, congressionally endorsed plan to empower Internet architects and engineers, civil society, and technology industry stakeholders with the authority to maintain the DNS without government intrusion. In reality, the proposed transition creates an opportunity for authoritarian governments to supplant ICANN with the …
The U.S. hasn’t even abandoned its Web protection yet, and authoritarians are making their move. by wsj.com The Obama administration plan to give up U.S. protection of the open Internet won’t take effect for a year, but authoritarian governments are already moving to grab control. President Obama is learning it’s as dangerous for America to create …
The IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) today announced that it has finalized and published the group’s charter [PDF, 45 KB]. The final charter is the result of multiple email and phone discussions among the members of the ICG, and the 8-15 of August open comment period on the draft charter [PDF, 44 KB]. To …
In a letter dated July 31, 2014, to the Chairman of the ICANN Board of Directors, Dr. Stephen Crocker, US Senators John Thune and Marco Rubio, of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, commented, with specific recommendations, on the the IANA transition and ICANN accountability. Read Full Letter (pdf) with the exerpt …
“When a decision is taken about a possible new top-level domain, ICANN’s job is to work out, in a transparent and accountable manner, whether it is really in the best interest of the world as a whole, not just of those launching the new domain.” — Tim Berners-Lee Jean Guillon writing in CircleID asks: “What if …
By Philip S. Corwin, On March 27, 2014, shortly after the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) March 14th announcement of its intent to transfer its counterparty status on ICANN’s IANA functions contract to the global multistakeholder community, the conservative advocacy organization Americans for Limited Government (ALG) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request …
As we move toward the IANA transition, many observers are concerned about the relationship between an autonomous ICANN and Internet freedom. One proposal even went so far as to propose to replace NTIA oversight with an “Internet Freedom Panel” that could veto any ICANN decisions that threaten Internet freedom. That proposal is unworkable because of …
Phil Corwin who writes extensively on Internet governance commented on the recent unanimous GNSO statement at the ICANN 50 in London. His comments are below GNSO Constituencies Issue Unanimous Joint Statement on ICANN Accountability In an unprecedented development, all stakeholder groups and constituencies comprising ICANN”s Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) unanimously endorsed a joint statement …