NTIA Extension of IANA Contract Leaves Limited Room for Further Delays, Stakeholders Say
NTIA’s extension of its contract with ICANN to administer the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions until Sept. 30, 2016, (see 1508180068) gives ICANN stakeholders needed extra time to finalize plans for the transition, experts said in interviews. But they said the one-year extension still doesn’t leave much of a cushion for dealing with unforeseen issues. The IANA contract extension is unlikely to affect Congress’ desire to seek additional oversight of the transition process after the August recess, stakeholders said.
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The contract extension gives those in the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) and the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) “a little more breathing room” to finalize their proposals for the IANA transition and a related set of changes to ICANN’s accountability mechanisms, said Shane Tews, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute’s Center for Internet, Communications and Technology Policy. ICG and CCWG-Accountability have released draft versions of their proposals for comment (see 1507310060 and 1508040058). Comments on the ICG draft are due Sept. 8 and comments on the CCWG-Accountability proposal are due Sept. 12. “Hopefully this extension will give them time to put some more substantial measures in place” given stakeholders’ concerns about some aspects of the current proposals, Tews said. The IANA contract extension also likely eases concerns that the transition could raise tensions at the U.N.’s 10-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society outcomes, she said.
A one-year extension of the contract “seems to be the minimum” given ICANN’s current timeline for finalizing its IANA transition and ICANN accountability proposals, along with NTIA’s review period and timing for implementing recommended accountability changes, said Phil Corwin, principal of e-commerce and IP law consultancy Virtualaw. ICANN stakeholders indicated after the June ICANN 53 meeting in Buenos Aires that the transition process would last at least until July 2016 and could be delayed until that September. Sept. 30, 2016, was probably the latest Strickling could extend the contract without risking pushing the IANA transition off onto President Barack Obama’s successor, Corwin said. “My concern is that I don’t think they’ve left themselves much wiggle room” if additional delays occur, he said. ICANN would need to be substantially finished with its role in the IANA transition process by July 2016 to make a full oversight handover by that Sept. 30 feasible, Corwin said.
The new Sept. 30, 2016, deadline would also be affected by whether Congress enacts the Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters (DOTCOM) Act, Corwin said. The House passed its version of the bill (HR-805) in June but a Senate floor vote on its version of the bill (S-1551) was delayed by a hold by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Other senators have also placed holds on the bill amid concerns that it didn’t give Congress any ability to vote on the IANA transition, said Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning. Cruz has been sustaining his hold on S-1551 during negotiations with Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and other Senate leaders to debate and vote on an amendment that would require Congress to vote on the IANA transition, an industry lobbyist said. “I can’t think of any reason why [Cruz] wouldn’t want to still ask for a vote” as an amendment, though it remains as unlikely to pass on the Senate floor as it did when Cruz offered the same amendment during Senate Commerce’s markup of S-1551, Corwin said. “It’s not his typical operating procedure to back down” on issues like the IANA transition, Corwin said. A debate on the Cruz amendment could prove beneficial for educating senators on the IANA transition, Corwin said.
It’s “more imperative than ever” that Cruz and others seek to scuttle S-1551, along with passing a Senate version of the Department of Commerce’s FY 2016 budget that includes a ban on use of NTIA funds for the IANA transition until Sept. 30, 2016, Manning said. ALG has raised concerns since NTIA announced the IANA contract extension about whether the agency is sufficiently checked from pursuing further extensions of the contract. NTIA and ICANN signed off on a change in the contract extension options Aug. 4 but hasn’t yet signed off on the actual contract extension, NTIA said. Strickling said in a blog post that the agency informed Congress of the change Friday. The agency said it plans to sign off on the extension before Sept. 30. NTIA believes it has “fully complied with what Congress told us to do,” a spokeswoman said.