Redl, Strayer Recommit to Multistakeholder Net Governance; Strickling 'Not Worried' About IANA Reversal

Former NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling told reporters he's “not worried about any possible reversing of the IANA transition. It's not going to happen.” Rescission of the switchover now, more than a year after it occurred, is “not possible,” Strickling said. Other internet governance lobbyists and experts also said they aren't concerned by Redl's promises to Cruz and Lee. One lobbyist framed them as Redl telling Cruz “what he wanted to hear” in a bid to end the confirmation stalemate. Cruz’s long-standing concerns about Redl’s public position that the federal government couldn't undo the handoff repeatedly delayed the nominee's confirmation process, eventually leading Cruz to place a hold on Redl (see 1710040063 and 1710230062). Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, subsequently also placed a hold on Redl amid concerns about what Redl might have promised Cruz in exchange for an end to that hold (see 1710300028, 1711070076 and 1711080015).

“We must continue to fight” for the “principle of multistakeholder policymaking and standards development,” Redl said during the event. “The internet has become what it is today in part because of a long-standing, bipartisan consensus” on multistakeholderism. “I don't think that we are” transitioning into a post-multistakeholder world now despite ongoing challenges, Strayer said. “We just need to keep fulfilling” engagements with stakeholders as the U.S. and others have done in the past. “We have worked together for so long in a multistakeholder environment” that “we've set the base” for the future, he said.

Strickling, now with the Internet Society, said he's “heartened” Redl and Strayer reaffirmed the Trump administration's commitment to the multistakeholder process given ongoing scrutiny of ICANN's performance after the IANA transition, and concerns the ITU will encroach into internet governance. “These concerns that somehow the multistakeholder approach is weakening or is no longer an adequate tool I think are clearly off the mark,” Strickling said: “There is tremendous opportunity to continue to engage stakeholders in solving internet issues” via government-led and private sector-led processes.

Redl signaled NTIA is prioritizing “preservation” of ICANN's Whois domain owner information directories as the organization works to comply with the EU-wide general data protection regulation (GDPR) privacy regime (see 1712140004 and 1801290027). Whois' “essential character has been threatened” by work to make the service GDPR-compliant even though ICANN can comply with all governments' privacy laws while maintaining the integrity of its services, he said: “It is in the interests of all stakeholders that it does. And for anyone here in the U.S. who may be persuaded by arguments calling for drastic change, please know that the U.S. government expects this information to continue to be made easily available” via Whois.

Redl and Strayer committed to stemming governments' continued efforts to encroach on internet governance via the ITU. The U.S. “needs to press for changes to the ITU, including establishing effective membership oversight of the ITU's finances,” Redl said. “This is particularly important given that the [U.S.] is currently one of the two largest donors to the institution. We will also need to fight against the continued efforts to aggressively move the ITU beyond its limited mandate and into internet-related and cybersecurity matters.” Strayer said he's also focused on ensuring the ITU's mandate “does not expand into areas that we know are better handled by private sector standards-setting bodies.”