Staff vs Stakeholders as ICANN’s accountability comes under the radar

This weekend ICANN launched a new public comment period on enhancing its accountability and governance. However, its approach to the issue has come under fire, with questions raised over the lack of community input into the current process. In June, World Trademark Review reported on a call from the Generic Names Supporting Organisation’s (GNSO) various …

ICANN staff imposed Accountability Process receives a formal Reconsideration Request (RR) to the ICANN Board

As posted on CircleID by Philip S. Corwin, In a rapid follow-up to the unprecedented joint letter sent on August 26th by all members of the ICANN community questioning the proposed Accountability Process imposed by ICANN staff, three of the groups that signed that letter have now submitted a formal Reconsideration Request (RR) to the …

Phil Corwin weighs in on GNSO “Unanimous” Endorsement for ICANN Independent Accountability

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 …

Lawrence Strickling, ICANN transition needs participation, transparency, and consensus

By Dibya Sarkar Fiercegovernmentit A “smooth transition” from U.S. control over web addresses to a new, international group will require active participation of stakeholders, support for the new governance model, consensus and greater accountability and transparency, said the head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration at ICANN’s London meeting June 23. Lawrence Strickling, who’s …

Did ICANN bow to Community Pushback, taking Neutral IANA Transition Role?

Source:  BNA Writen By David McAuley June 10 — The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers executed an about-face June 6, taking a more neutral role on a number of important particulars in its suggested process for developing a proposal to transition the National Telecommunications and Information Agency’s (NTIA) contractual oversight role over critical …

NTIA escapes IANA spending restriction in Senate spend Bill

UPDATE: I am not going to rewrite this blog post. However, since writing it earlier today, I learned that there was a late addition — a “managers’ package” — added to the bill prior to passage. That new language, offered by Senator Johanns, adds a requirement that Senate Commerce receive 7 days advance notice of …

Senators Seek Hearing On ICANN Hand-off, Say they are concerned about transitioning oversight of domain name functions

Led by Senate Commerce Committee members Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), nine Republican senators have asked the chairman and ranking member of the committee to hold a hearing on the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s planned transition of some Internet domain name (ICANN) functions to a multistakeholder model. That came the same day that the …

ICANN recommends to retain Verisign as root zone maintainer

Nine weeks have passed since the U.S. government announced its intention to transition stewardship of the IANA functions to the global community. This landmark announcement requires a measured, thoughtful approach for how we – the Internet community – will map a route to a successful transition. Together, we must pool our efforts with a goal …