Re: [atlarge-discuss] U.S. Will Renew ICANN's Authority

["Ron Sherwood" <sherwood@islands.vi>]

Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen:

    Does anyone have more detail on the following extract from David
McGuire's article? How does the ITU propose to participate more in Internet
regulation?

"Later this month, Victory will be part of the U.S. delegation at a meeting
of
the International Telecommunications Union in Marrakech, Morocco. The United
States intends to oppose the ITU's efforts to participate more in Internet
regulation", Victory said.

Regards, Ron Sherwood

----- Original Message -----
From: <DannyYounger@cs.com>
To: <atlarge-discuss@lists.fitug.de>
Sent: Friday, September 13, 2002 5:53 PM
Subject: [atlarge-discuss] U.S. Will Renew ICANN's Authority


> By David McGuire
> washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
> Friday, September 13, 2002; 5:41 PM
>
>
> The U.S. government will renew a California nonprofit's authority to
manage
> the Internet's global addressing system, a top Commerce Department
official
> said today.
>
> The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) manages
the
> Internet's Domain Name System (DNS) under agreements with the U.S.
government
> that are up for renewal at the end of this month.
>
> "At this point we do anticipate that there will be an extension" of
ICANN's
> authority, Commerce Department Undersecretary Nancy Victory told reporters
in
> a conference call. Victory is the head of the Commerce Department's
National
> Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which oversees
> ICANN.
>
> ICANN, based in Marina del Rey, has been criticized for failing to involve
> the online public in its decisions, but Victory said she has been
encouraged
> by internal ICANN reforms. She added that new agreements with ICANN would
> include provisions "designed to ensure that we continue progress forward
with
> the reform effort."
>
> Victory did not say when the renewal of ICANN's authority would be
completed,
> nor did she indicate how long it would run.
>
> ICANN President Stuart Lynn said the group is "in discussions with the
> Commerce Department right now about the precise shape" the agreements will
> take.
>
> He added that ICANN would continue pushing to enact internal reforms.
"We've
> made good progress, but we haven't completed it. There's still work to be
> done," Lynn said.
>
> Formed in 1998, ICANN was commissioned by the U.S. government to inject
> competition into the domain name industry, which had been monopolized by
> Internet addressing giant Network Solutions Inc. Networks Solutions owned
a
> government contract to operate the technical backbone of the DNS, which
was
> originally created by government-funded U.S. scientists.
>
> ICANN has accredited more than 100 new address retailers and approved
seven
> new globally available Internet domains that compete with dot-com, dot-net
> and dot-org.
>
> Earlier this year, ICANN embarked on an internal reform effort, but
critics
> still complain that the reform plans don't give a meaningful voice to
> ordinary Internet users.
>
> Victory said that the ICANN "experiment" needs more time to succeed,
adding
> that while she is pleased with ICANN's reform efforts thus far, but she is
> not yet fully satisfied.
>
> University of Miami Law Professor Michael Froomkin said he is not
surprised
> that the Commerce Department opted to renew the contract. "They don't want
to
> rebuild ICANN from scratch," he said.
>
> Froomkin, editor ICANNWatch.org, a Web site often critical of ICANN, said
it
> will be more interesting to see how much pressure the Commerce Department
> exerts on ICANN to reform itself.
>
> Center for Democracy and Technology Policy Analyst Robert Courtney agreed.
> "We've always sort of anticipated that the [memorandum of understanding]
> would be renewed. We continue to hope for and continue to push for some
new
> provisions to be included in the MOU," Courtney said. The agreement should
> clearly outline steps ICANN must take to improve its openness and
> transparency, Courtney said.
>
> Froomkin said that Victory's resolve will be key to ICANN's future. "What
> matters is the will of the NTIA, what they put in the agreement is less
> important," he said. "What matters more than anything else is when NTIA is
> willing to draw a line in the sand and really mean it."
>
> Later this month, Victory will be part of the U.S. delegation at a meeting
of
> the International Telecommunications Union in Marrakech, Morocco. The
United
> States intends to oppose the ITU's efforts to participate more in Internet
> regulation, Victory said.
>
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