US government relinquishing control of Internet

March 14th marks a celebratory day for Internet-freedom advocates, signaling the U.S. government’s announcement to pass on Internet domain name functions to the global multistakeholder community. US Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) came under mounting pressure in the wake of Edward Snowden’s document leaking, which revealed the extent of the National Security Agency’s surveillance.

The US government acquired Internet dominion early on after US Department of Defense invested in the nascent packet of network systems, ARPANET, upon which the net was built; however, the stepping back process began as early as 1998 with the conception of ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

ICANN was under contract by the US government to coordinate the NITA’s Internet Domain Name System (DNS) and Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), making it the prime candidate for absorbing both these responsibilities once a transitional proposal has been outline.

NTIA requires that ICANN convene with global stakeholders made up of private companies, foreign government officials, civil groups and net organizations to outline a proposal that will “support and enhance the multistakeholder model” for governing the Internet with fairness, according to US Secretary of Commerce Lawrence Strickling.

To ensure that ICANN adheres to these principals, NTIA requires that the proposal not only have wide global community support, but enhance the multistakeholder model; maintain the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet DNS; meet the needs and expectations of global customers and partners of the IANA services; and, maintain the openness of the Internet.

Dr. Stephen Crocker, chairman of ICANN’s board of directors, states in press release: “we have all long known the destination, now it is up to our global stakeholder community to determine the best route to get us there.” The takeover will be complete by September 2015, after ICANN’s current contract with the US government expires.

Story via NTIA.org