Cruz, Other Skeptical Senators Urge NTIA To Extend IANA Contract Over Transition Concerns

a letter late Thursday that they have “deep concerns” about IANA transition-related plans that ICANN submitted to NTIA in March. NTIA plans to complete its review of the IANA transition plans by mid-June (see 1603100070 and 1603110075). If ICANN enacts those plans -- a formal IANA transition plan and a related set of recommended changes to ICANN's accountability mechanisms -- without the backing of its contract with NTIA, “it will greatly endanger Internet freedom,” the senators said in the letter to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling. An NTIA spokeswoman said the agency has received Cruz's letter and is currently reviewing it. “The proposal will significantly increase the power of foreign governments over the Internet, expand ICANN's historical core mission by creating a gateway to content regulation, and embolden ICANN's leadership to act without any real accountability,” Cruz said in the letter. “Simply put, regardless of its intentions, the proposal as a whole does not adequately address the grave concerns expressed by Congress.” Cruz and the other two senators who signed the letter -- James Lankford, R-Okla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah -- have repeatedly questioned ICANN in recent months about its engagement with the Chinese government and now-former CEO Fadi Chehadé's involvement with the Chinese government-led World Internet Conference (see 1602040061, 1603030067 and 1604040056). Neither Congress nor NTIA has determined fully whether the IANA transition would result in the transfer of U.S. government property because the transition will involve the transfer of control of the root zone file, Cruz said in the letter. The GAO still is analyzing whether the root zone file transfer constitutes a transfer of government property. If the GAO determines the root zone file is government property, the Constitution “would require a vote in Congress to dispose of such property,” Cruz said. Concerns linger that ICANN could choose to move its headquarters from Los Angeles to a location outside the U.S. in a bid to “escape U.S. law and redraft its bylaws” once it completes the IANA transition, Cruz said in the letter. “This issue is far from resolved” since ICANN's post-transition jurisdiction isn't set to be resolved until after the transition. “The fact that this issue has been deferred to an unspecified point in the future when the U.S. would have a far lesser voice in the transition process raises questions about ICANN's intent on this matter,” he said. Cruz, a Senate Commerce Committee member, sent the letter days before the committee is set to hold a hearing on the status of the IANA transition. The Tuesday hearing is expected to focus on ICANN stakeholders' perspectives on the IANA transition, with transition skeptics reportedly pushing Senate Commerce to air their concerns during the hearing. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also a Senate Commerce member, is circulating his own planned letter to Strickling seeking a delay in the IANA transition (see 1605180063).