LIVE Hearing Replay: Facilitating the 21st Century Wireless Economy

Facilitating the 21st Century Wireless Economy Hearing:

US Congressional Subcommittee Hearing Scheduled for Apr 5, 2017, 10:00 AM EDT
(Editor's note: several subcommittee members spent the first part of the hearing disagreeing about the recent repeal of internet privacy protections for consumers.)

Facilitating the 21st Century Wireless Economy | Energy and Commerce Committee

Subcommittee: Communications and Technology (115th Congress) (members)

Subcommittee Leadership:

• Marsha Blackburn(Tennessee - 07)- Chairman (R)
• Leonard Lance (New Jersey - 07) - Vice Chairman (R)
• Michael Doyle (Pennsylvania - 14) - Ranking Member (D)

Witnesses:

Mr. Scott Bergmann

• Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, CTIA
• Witness Statement (pdf)
• Witness Invitation (pdf)
• Truth in Testimony and CV (pdf)

Mr. Jared Carlson

• Vice President, Government Affairs and Public Policy, Ericsson
• Witness Statement (pdf)
• Witness Invitation (pdf)
• Truth in Testimony and CV (pdf)

Ms. Jennifer Manner

• Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, EchoStar Corporation and Hughes Network Systems
• Witness Statement (pdf)
• Witness Invitation (pdf)
• Truth in Testimony and CV (pdf)

Mr. Dave Wright

• Director, Regulatory Affairs and Network Standards, Ruckus Wireless
• Witness Statement (pdf)
• Witness Invitation (pdf)
• Truth in Testimony and CV (pdf)

Text of Legislation
S.19, To provide opportunities for broadband investment, and for other purposes.

Hearing Notice (pdf)

Hearing Memo (pdf) (embed below)

5G spectrum

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
Follow @DomainMondo

DISCLAIMER

NTIA Concurs With GAO Recommendation on IANA Transition Proposal

Background: In March, 2014, the US government's NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) announced its intention to transition its "stewardship" over the internet's IANA functions to the global multistakeholder community and asked ICANN, the California non-profit corporation which is the IANA functions operator under contract with US Department Commerce (NTIA), to convene a "stakeholder" process by which a transition plan would be developed and submitted to NTIA for approval. Subsequently, an "enhancing ICANN accountability" process was also initiated and added as a requirement to any transition plan to be implemented, if and when, NTIA approves. The US Congress had asked the US government's GAO (government accounting office) to review aspects of the US government's stewardship of the IANA functions and the transition. Today, September 18, 2015, the GAO made public its Report, GAO-15-642: Published: Aug 19, 2015. In short, 

"GAO recommends that NTIA review relevant frameworks for evaluation and use applicable portions to help evaluate the transition proposal. The Department of Commerce concurred with the recommendation." (emphasis added)

"NTIA plans to evaluate the [IANA Transition] proposal against core goals, such as maintaining the security and stability of the Internet domain name system and the openness of the Internet. However, NTIA has not yet determined how it will evaluate the proposal against the goals. The changes the working groups are considering could create a new organizational environment for the operation of the technical functions, such as new structures, contractual obligations, and governance models for ICANN. Given the extent of these potential changes, GAO identified frameworks for evaluation that could provide tools to guide NTIA's evaluation.

"These frameworks incorporate leading practices to help organizations obtain reasonable assurance that their goals and objectives will be met or that they will meet certain requirements. For example, key components of one framework include the organizational environment, risk assessment, and monitoring.

"In prior work, GAO has considered such frameworks in relationship to accountability challenges at a variety of organizations. These types of frameworks could help NTIA evaluate whether the transition proposal meets its core goals, and could also be helpful in considering accountability mechanisms that are included in the proposal. For example, one framework's risk assessment component could help NTIA consider the multistakeholder community's efforts to identify and manage risks.

"These frameworks are intentionally flexible, so that NTIA could select elements that are applicable to the scope of the proposed transition. Without a framework as a tool to systematically review the proposal and its various new structures and processes, NTIA may not be assured that its goals for the transition have been fully addressed and embedded over the long term.

"Recommendation: To ensure that NTIA's evaluation of the Internet multistakeholder community's transition proposal fully considers whether the proposal provides reasonable assurance that NTIA's core goals for the transition will be met, the NTIA Administrator should review relevant frameworks for evaluation, such as the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) framework and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) quality management principles [pdf], and use the relevant portions of the frameworks to help evaluate and document whether and how the transition proposal meets NTIA's core goals." (emphasis and links added)

More information:
U.S. GAO - Internet Management: Structured Evaluation Could Help Assess Proposed Transition of Key Domain Name and Other Technical Functions:
Recommendation for Executive Action: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-642
Additional Materials:
Highlights Page: (PDF, 1 page)
Full Report: (PDF, 65 pages)
Accessible Version: (PDF, 72 pages)

Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) http://coso.org/
Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission - (Wikipedia): "COSO admits in their report that while enterprise risk management provides important benefits, limitations exist. Enterprise risk management is dependent on human judgment and therefore susceptible to decision making. Human failures such as simple errors or mistakes can lead to inadequate responses to risk. In addition, controls can be circumvented by collusion of two or more people, and management has the ability to override enterprise risk management decisions. These limitations preclude a board and management from having absolute assurance as to achievement of the entity's objectives."


Follow @DomainMondo

DISCLAIMER

Two Congressional Hearings Wednesday on ICANN and IANA Transition

On Wednesday, May 13th, the U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, is holding two subcommittee hearings on ICANN, ICANN Accountability, and the IANA Stewardship Transition:

Hearing #1: The Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet will hold a hearing on Wednesday, May 13, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. EDT (Time Converter) in 2141 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. The hearing is entitled: Stakeholder Perspectives on ICANN: The .Sucks Domain and Essential Steps to Guarantee Trust and Accountability in the Internet’s Operation. The hearing will be webcast at:
http://www.domainmondo.com/2015/05/us-hearing-wednesday-icann-sucks-iana.html

The Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet hearing will examine stakeholders perspectives on the operation of ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a non-profit California corporation, charged with managing the Internet’s domain name and addressing system. The hearing will focus on the rollout of the new .sucks domain name and the Obama Administration’s proposal to transition oversight of the Domain Name System (DNS) away from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

Hearing #2: The Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing on Wednesday, May 13, 2015, at 2:00 p.m. EDT (Time Converter) in 2322 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.  The hearing is entitled: “Stakeholder Perspectives on the IANA Transition.” The hearing webcast: http://www.domainmondo.com/2015/05/us-congressional-hearing-live-2-pm.html

For more information on the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing:
http://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF16/20150513/103448/HHRG-114-IF16-20150513-SD003.pdf

See also: Congress keeps pressing ICANN - POLITICO: "The Judiciary hearing will focus on trust and accountability of ICANN, and the hearing title calls out one current issue in particular: the “.sucks” top-level domain name. In April, ICANN asked American and Canadian trade regulators to investigate Vox Populi, a Canadian company that holds the rights to sell domain names ending in “.sucks,” to see if it is exploiting brands and celebrities by charging them high rates for domain names.... [The Communications and Technology] hearing will feature stakeholders talking about the government’s plans to transition away from a formal oversight role. Panel members will also review the Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters (DOTCOM) Act, a plan by Rep. John Shimkus to put the transition on hold for a year while the Government Accountability Office reviews potential consequences."


Follow @DomainMondo

.SUCKS, ICANN, Accountability: WITNESS List for US Hearing on May 13th

Congress of the United States

House of Representatives

Committee on the Judiciary

Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet

Hearing: Stakeholder Perspectives on ICANN: The .Sucks Domain and 

Essential Steps to Guarantee Trust and Accountability in the Internet’s Operation

10:00 a.m. EDT (Time Converter)

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

2141 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, D.C.

For more information read the Press Release

Witnesses:

Ms. Mei-lan Stark

Immediate Past President

International Trademark Association

Mr. Paul Misener

Vice President of Global Public Policy

Amazon.com, Inc.

Mr. John Horton

President

LegitScript

Mr. Steven Metalitz

Counsel

Coalition for Online Accountability

Mr. Jonathan Zuck

President

ACT | The App Association

Mr. Phil Corwin

President

Internet Commerce Association

Mr. Steve DelBianco

Executive Director

NetChoice

Mr. Bill Woodcock

Executive Director

Packet Clearing House

see also: The dot SUCKS Conundrum: ICANN, FTC, OCA, New gTLD Domains

Follow @DomainMondo