NTIA Signoff on IANA Transition Plan Draws Criticism From Republican Skeptics
NTIA’s endorsement of ICANN's Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition-related plans drew criticism Thursday and Friday from congressional Republicans skeptical of the transition, and praise from a top House Commerce Committee Democrat. NTIA said Thursday it decided ICANN’s IANA transition…
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plan and a related set of changes to ICANN’s accountability mechanisms meet the agency’s own criteria for the transition spinoff, plus criteria set by other federal agencies and by a corporate oversight review panel (see 1606090067). Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and three other Republican legislators who have repeatedly criticized the transition jointly said Thursday that NTIA’s report “is a clear indication that it has flagrantly violated federal law.” Cruz and other Republicans who issued the statement -- Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis. -- are the lead sponsors of the Protecting Internet Freedom Act. It would in part prohibit NTIA from allowing the IANA transition to occur unless Congress “expressly grants” the agency's administrator the authority to allow the transition to proceed (see 1606020056). NTIA’s report “is the latest step in a troubling series of steps that the administration has taken to relinquish its responsibilities, and it should send a concerning message to every American,” Cruz and the other Republicans said: If the IANA transition occurs as planned, “authoritarian regimes could try to undermine the new system of Internet governance and thereby threaten free speech around the world.” House Appropriations Commerce Subcommittee Chairman John Culberson, R-Texas, said in a letter to Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker he will ensure that a rider in Commerce’s FY 2016 budget that prohibits NTIA from using its funds to facilitate the IANA transition “is fully enforced” in the coming months. “I continue to oppose the use of any funds to plan for, prepare for, work on, or transition the Internet Domain Name System Functions,” Culberson said. House Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., declined to comment Thursday, telling us he needed to study the report’s findings. House Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., praised NTIA Friday for following the review framework set up in the Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters Act (HR-805/S-1551), which passed last year in the House but stalled in the Senate. HR-805/S-1551 would give Congress 30 legislative days to review an NTIA report on the IANA transition plan before NTIA could relinquish its IANA oversight authority. “I’m grateful that the NTIA did such a thorough job following our framework and giving Congress time to thoroughly review the findings before the transition takes place,” Pallone said in a statement.