WASHINGTON: The US has announced to give up its control over Internet's technical operations handing over those functions to "the global multistakeholder community."
The US government, in a statement yesterday, sought to convene global stakeholders to develop a proposal to transition away from US government oversight of the Internet's domain name system.
The decision is aimed at supporting and enhancing the multi-stakeholder model of Internet policymaking and governance, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) said.
"The timing is right to start the transition process," Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, Lawrence E Strickling, said.
In 1997, the Internet domain system was handed over by the US government to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit group.
"We look forward to ICANN convening stakeholders across the global Internet community to craft an appropriate transition plan," he added.
NTIA said ICANN is uniquely positioned, as both the current IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) functions contractor and the global coordinator for the DNS (Domain Name System), as the appropriate party to convene the multi- stakeholder process to develop the transition plan.
NTIA has informed ICANN that it expects that in the development of the proposal, ICANN will work collaboratively with the directly affected parties, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), the Internet Society (ISOC), the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), top level domain name operators, VeriSign, and other interested global stakeholders.
At the same time, NTIA said it will not accept a proposal that replaces the NTIA role with a government-led or an inter-governmental organisation solution.
During a conference call, Strickling said any proposal "must have broad community support" and must be based on a multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance. "It must maintain the openness of the Internet. We will not accept a proposal... with a government led or an inter-governmental solution," he said.
The move was welcomed by top American lawmakers, including the Senate Commerce Committee Chairman, John Rockefeller. "The Internet was invented and developed in the US, and it has completely transformed the way people communicate and do business in every corner of the world," he said.
"Since 1998, the US has been committed to transitioning management of the Internet's domain name system to an independent entity that reflects the broad diversity of the global Internet community. NTIA's announcement today that it is beginning the process of transferring additional domain name functions to ICANN is the next phase in this transition," Rockefeller said.
"It is also consistent with other efforts the US and our allies are making to promote a free and open Internet, and to preserve and advance the current multi-stakeholder model of global Internet governance," he added.
US plans to give up its control over Internet's domain name system - Economic Times
The US government, in a statement yesterday, sought to convene global stakeholders to develop a proposal to transition away from US government oversight of the Internet's domain name system.
The decision is aimed at supporting and enhancing the multi-stakeholder model of Internet policymaking and governance, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) said.
"The timing is right to start the transition process," Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, Lawrence E Strickling, said.
In 1997, the Internet domain system was handed over by the US government to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit group.
"We look forward to ICANN convening stakeholders across the global Internet community to craft an appropriate transition plan," he added.
NTIA said ICANN is uniquely positioned, as both the current IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) functions contractor and the global coordinator for the DNS (Domain Name System), as the appropriate party to convene the multi- stakeholder process to develop the transition plan.
NTIA has informed ICANN that it expects that in the development of the proposal, ICANN will work collaboratively with the directly affected parties, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), the Internet Society (ISOC), the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), top level domain name operators, VeriSign, and other interested global stakeholders.
At the same time, NTIA said it will not accept a proposal that replaces the NTIA role with a government-led or an inter-governmental organisation solution.
During a conference call, Strickling said any proposal "must have broad community support" and must be based on a multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance. "It must maintain the openness of the Internet. We will not accept a proposal... with a government led or an inter-governmental solution," he said.
The move was welcomed by top American lawmakers, including the Senate Commerce Committee Chairman, John Rockefeller. "The Internet was invented and developed in the US, and it has completely transformed the way people communicate and do business in every corner of the world," he said.
"Since 1998, the US has been committed to transitioning management of the Internet's domain name system to an independent entity that reflects the broad diversity of the global Internet community. NTIA's announcement today that it is beginning the process of transferring additional domain name functions to ICANN is the next phase in this transition," Rockefeller said.
"It is also consistent with other efforts the US and our allies are making to promote a free and open Internet, and to preserve and advance the current multi-stakeholder model of global Internet governance," he added.
US plans to give up its control over Internet's domain name system - Economic Times