ICANN Selection of Swedish Telecom Regulator as New CEO Draws Mixed Reaction

Marby starts in May. President-Global Domains Division Akram Atallah will be acting CEO after Fadi Chehadé leaves in mid-March. NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling said in a statement that he congratulated Marby and "I look forward to working with him during this historic time." FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said on Twitter that she congratulated Marby. ICANN's Monday announcement followed a Communications Daily report Friday that the organization was close to a CEO hire and would likely pick a European male executive (see 1602050065).

Marby's hiring “brings to a close a very long and energetic search process,” said ICANN Chairman Steve Crocker during a conference call with reporters. The search committee’s primary criteria in the search included operational experience with an operation of ICANN’s complexity, “a strong commitment to the multistakeholder model” and “considerable knowledge” of the Internet environment, Crocker said. The search committee also considered geographic, nationality and gender diversity in its search, he said. Marby will be the first ICANN president-CEO from Europe.

Marby told reporters his first priority will be to continue the “evolution of the work that’s been done by the multistakeholder community” on the planned Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition and other ICANN community issues. “I expect to continue the good work that’s been done,” he said. “I have no inclination that it’s not going to happen. It’s a very important task but it’s really the multistakeholder model that’s brought us to the point where we are today.” The Swedish government will need to formally approve Marby's resignation as PTS director-general. Marby said he doesn’t anticipate the government will deny his request.

Swedish ISP Bahnhof CEO Jon Karlung, who previously publicly criticized Marby, told us he hopes Marby will “change” with his transition to ICANN from his record at PTS of what Karlung describes as a lack of transparency. “That has not been [Marby’s] best quality,” Karlung said. He cited Marby’s 2014 decision to keep private a PTS staff-written report that said Swedish law wasn’t compliant with a European Court of Justice decision that year that invalidated an EU law harmonizing European measures on retaining e-communications traffic data for use in fighting crime and terrorism (see report in the April 9, 2014, issue). PTS later released the report after a court order. Karlung told us he believes the episode shows Marby “didn’t take a stand for ordinary Internet users.”

Marby said Karlung “has not been happy” with him at PTS but added that “the job of a regulator … is to stand between operators and people.” Marby said many Swedish telecom companies “were not happy” with PTS’ 2015 decision to require all firms to invest in network resilience “and people expressed their different views.” Marby cited the Swedish government’s decision to reappoint him in October as PTS director-general for a term to expire in 2018 as a vindication of his leadership style. Marby later told reporters he agrees with ICANN’s current multistakeholder, consensus-based approach to Internet governance. ICANN “is not a one-man show," he said.

U.S. Internet governance stakeholders had a range of opinions on how Marby’s current role as the head of Sweden’s PTS would affect his future performance at ICANN. One industry lobbyist voiced skepticism with putting the head of a government telecom regulator into ICANN’s leadership, saying running the ITU might be better for someone with his experience. Shane Tews, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute’s Center for Internet, Communications and Technology Policy, said her main concern “is when telecom people think they’re tech people but they’re not.” She said Marby’s past roles at a range of Internet and cybersecurity companies make her more optimistic about the selection.

Marby’s mix of ties to industry and government may “make him a really good choice right off the bat” at ICANN, said Internet governance scholar and consultant John Laprise. Marby’s experience in Sweden “puts a different kind of spin on the technology outlook angle,” Laprise said. Sweden’s history of democratic socialism “gives something to people who are concerned about the multistakeholder model and may make them believe [Marby] has more sympathy toward their point of view,” Laprise said.

Marby’s lack of specific experience in the domain names industry made him a mystery candidate to many stakeholders upon ICANN’s announcement Monday, but several noted that an outsider history would be beneficial for ICANN. “Of late, many of ICANN’s issues have emerged out of the way it deals with domain names, so I think bringing someone in who doesn’t have pre-existing connections is probably an advantage,” Laprise said. “If ICANN is looking to wipe the slate clean or bring in a fresh set of eyes to tackle the problem that it has, then this is a good way to do it.”

The key to a successful IANA transition is to ensure that “ICANN is secure and firm as a private institution, not a two-phase metamorphosis from U.S. oversight into some new multistakeholder model and from there to some other model,” said former NTIA administrator John Kneuer, JKC Consulting president and a Fairfax Media Partners senior partner. “There has to be consistency with the original vision of a private sector-led institution, and we should look for [Marby] to continue that.”