IANA Transition to Dominate ICANN 50 Conference, as Cruz Introduces Amendment to Prohibit Transition

Senate Judiciary Committee member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Thursday introduced legislation (http://1.usa.gov/1stBkRf) related to the transition. Cruz submitted an amendment (SA-3345) to the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations (CJS) bill FY 2015 (HR-4660). It seeks to prohibit NTIA use of its $48.5 million allocation by the Senate Appropriations Committee for the transition. The Appropriations Committee approved a separate “manager’s package” of amendments to the CJS bill June 8, including one seeking quarterly reports from NTIA on the IANA transition and a seven-day notice period before NTIA transfers IANA (WID June 9 p1). That amendment was submitted by Senate Appropriations Committee member Mike Johanns, R-Neb. The CJS bill is awaiting a full Senate vote (http://1.usa.gov/1pQWGGc).

Some House Republicans concerned about the transition will be watching ICANN 50, their representatives said. Rep. Sean Duffy’s, R-Wis., “primary focus will be the sessions on the proposed transitions for NTIA’s stewardship” of IANA, said his spokeswoman. Duffy and “his constituents are most concerned about” how “the world’s interests in a free and open Internet will be defended, as it has been for decades and will continue to be through U.S. stewardship of the IANA functions,” she said. Duffy submitted an amendment to prohibit NTIA’s transition of IANA, which passed the House with HR-4660 June 1 (WID June 2 p3). House Commerce Committee member and Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters (DOTCOM) Act sponsor John Shimkus, R-Ill., plans to follow the conference, said his spokesman. DOTCOM would delay the transition until a GAO study, and was passed by the House as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act May 22 (WID May 23 p3).

ICANN 50 “has been tasked with convening stakeholders to help develop a successful transition plan of the U.S. stewardship” of the Domain Name System, said NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling in a blog post Friday (http://1.usa.gov/1igqMkn). He said he hopes to “build on the momentum created” by Internet governance conference NETmundial and its multistakeholder document (http://bit.ly/1nLhMBC) (WID April 28 p4), at the High-Level Government Meeting on the transition Monday. NETmudial’s document “reinforced many of the OECD [Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development] principles, thereby further strengthening the vision of the inclusive and open Internet,” he said.

Changing Focus

"ICANN’s focus has moved away” from generic top-level domains (gTLDs) and is increasingly “defining its role in the [Internet] governance discussions,” said CEO Nao Matsukata of FairWinds Partners, a domain consultancy, in an interview. NETmundial was a step in that process; “London will be another,” he said. If “higher-level government” officials appear at Monday’s meeting on the transition, “that will be another new step for ICANN,” he said. Matsukata also expects more participation from corporate brands in London. “If London ends up being a meeting that is populated by high-level government representatives and corporate representatives,” it will be a “unique gathering for ICANN,” he said. The interaction between corporate and governmental parties is the hallmark of a multilateral meeting, he said. If corporate brands and governments begin intermingling, the conference could “look like a multilateral meeting,” he said.

The IANA transition and the “related matter” of ICANN’s accountability review will be “major topics” in London, said Phil Corwin, founding principal of e-commerce and intellectual property law consultancy Virtualaw, by email. “I can’t predict how that discussion will go,” but “what is clear is that the process is already going slower than ICANN management and staff had originally proposed,” he said. “The revised proposal [http://bit.ly/1q4zTqg] for a transition process retreats from the type of involvement that ICANN had originally proposed for itself,” but it’s “silent on the scope of what the transition working group can address,” said Corwin. ICANN is accepting candidate submissions for its IANA-related Coordination Group through July 2 (http://bit.ly/SXNJMO) (WID June 13 p13). The Coordination Group will be comprised of 27 members from 13 ICANN organizations. The “business and IP” sectors in the U.S. “seem to be of a strong opinion that no transition proposal should be forwarded” to NTIA “until very strong new accountability measures have been developed,” said Corwin. “We'll see if that view is more broadly held.”

The “most pressing issue in London is whether ICANN’s managers and board will respect the overwhelming public comments saying ICANN should be less controlling over the IANA and Accountability transitions,” said NetChoice Executive Director Steve DelBianco by email.

Expect “a lot of talk about [Internet] governance” and the IANA transition, said Mason Cole, vice president-communications for Donuts, a domain registry, in an interview. The conference won’t “have a lot to say” about the gTLD rollout, he said. The rollout is “going really well” and Donuts has “exceeded” its initial projections, said Cole. “All the doom and gloom everyone predicted” (WID Nov 1 p1) about the rollout “hasn’t materialized,” he said. Virtualaw’s Corwin expects gTLD issues to be raised in London: Name collision “concerns are still preventing many desirable domains from being available for registration.”