IANA Transition Hearing: Implications of Ending US Oversight of the Internet

L to R: Senator Ted Cruz; ICANN CEO Göran Marby

"... a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, chaired by Senator Cruz (a skeptic of the transition), will have a hearing on Wednesday at which both the [Obama] Administration and the new CEO of ICANN will appear. (I will be testifying as well, but on the second panel—the fireworks will be on the first panel, I'm sure.) What will come of this?  Only time will tell."--Paul Rosenzweig, The ICANN and IANA Transition End Game | LawfareBlog.com (emphasis added)

The IANA Stewardship Transition will be complete on October 1, 2016, unless House and Senate Republicans are successful in their effort to delay the transition and extend the IANA functions contract which will otherwise expire September 30, 2016. The Wednesday hearing was called by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, the Subcommittee Chair, who opposes the IANA Stewardship Transition.

Hearing | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts: Protecting Internet Freedom: Implications of Ending U.S. Oversight of the Internet 

Date: Wednesday, September 14, 2016 Time: 10:00 AM EDT | LIVE video replay
Location: Dirksen Senate Office Building 226, Washington, D.C.
Presiding: Chairman Cruz

Witnesses:
Panel I
The Honorable Lawrence E. Strickling
Assistant Secretary For Communications And Information And Administrator
National Telecommunications And Information Administration (NTIA)
United States Department Of Commerce
Washington, DC
Download Testimony (pdf)

Mr. Göran Marby
CEO And President
Internet Corporation For Assigned Names And Numbers (ICANN)
Los Angeles, CA
Download Testimony (pdf)

Panel II
Mr. Berin Szoka
President
TechFreedom
Washington, DC
Download Testimony (pdf)

Mr. Jonathan Zuck
President
ACT The App Association
Washington, DC
Download Testimony (pdf)

Ms. Dawn GroveCorporate Counsel
Karsten Manufacturing
Phoenix, AZ
Download Testimony (pdf)

Ms. J. Beckwith ("Becky") Burr
Deputy General Counsel And Chief Privacy Officer
Neustar
Washington, DC
Download Testimony (pdf)

Mr. John Horton
President And CEO
LegitScript
Portland, Oregon
Download Testimony (pdf)

Mr. Steve DelBianco
Executive Director
NetChoice
Washington, DC
Download Testimony (pdf)

Mr. Paul Rosenzweig
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary For Policy
U.S. Department Of Homeland Security
Washington, DC
Download Testimony (pdf)

Subcommittee members
Republicans:
Senator Cruz, Chair
Senator Grassley
Senator Hatch
Senator Sessions
Senator Flake
Senator Graham
Senator Lee
Senator Vitter
Democrats:
Senator Coons, Ranking Member
Senator Feinstein
Senator Durbin
Senator Schumer
Senator Whitehouse
Senator Klobuchar
Senator Blumenthal

Member Statements: Senator Chuck Grassley R (IA) Download Statement (pdf)

See on Domain Mondo:

• IANA Transition's Unanswered Questions Require An Extension?
• News Review [11Sep]: IANA Transition Drama in D.C. ... 
• Senate & House Chairmen's Letter to Attorney General & Commerce Sec.
• US Senator Cruz Attacks ICANN, Fadi Chehadé, IANA Transition (video)
• ICANN Answers Questions About The IANA Stewardship Transition

See also:  U.S. GAO - Department of Commerce--Property Implications of Proposed Transition of U.S. Government Oversight of Key Internet Technical Functions | gao.gov Sep 12, 2016: "... we find it is unlikely that either the authoritative root zone file or the Internet domain name system is U.S. Government property under Article IV.  We also find that the possible U.S. property interests that we have identified either would not be disposed of in connection with the proposed transition or would be disposed of in compliance with Article IV."

and U.S. GAO - National Telecommunications and Information Administration--Effect of Section 539 of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 on Amounts Appropriated Under a Continuing Resolution | gao.gov Sep 12, 2016: "... Section 539(b) provides that “Notwithstanding any other law, subsection (a) of this section shall not apply in fiscal year 2017.” However, section 539(b) would have no effect on the applicability of the prohibition contained in section 539(a) to funds appropriated by a typical continuing resolution. Therefore, NTIA could not use amounts appropriated under a continuing resolution to relinquish its responsibilities with respect to the Internet domain name system. However, during fiscal year 2017, section 539(b) extinguishes the prohibition of section 539(a) for any balances of the two-year appropriations (for fiscal years 2016 and 2017) enacted under the 2016 Appropriation that remain available for obligation in fiscal year 2017. Thus in fiscal year 2017 [beginning October 1, 2016] NTIA could use unobligated balances appropriated by the 2016 Appropriation to relinquish these responsibilities." (emphasis added)

and Comments on ICANN reform and the Stewardship Transition submitted by Milton Mueller, Internet Governance Project to the Senate Judiciary Committee, subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, September 14, 2016 (pdf).


feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
Follow @DomainMondo

DISCLAIMER

ICANN, New gTLD Domain Name Renewal Fees, Price Gouging

Domain Name Registrants beware: ICANN has let the new gTLD Registries run wild. For example, a new gTLD domain name Registry can essentially charge whatever it wants for domain name renewal fees. Isn't it interesting that none of the media nor ICANN nor Registrars have told you that! Fortunately for now, for domain name registrants, regular domain names like .com domain names still have renewal fees limited by the US Department of Commerce when it approved the last Verisign contract (registry for .com). However no one knows* what will happen after November 30, 2018, when the current Verisign contract ends, if the US gives up all oversight. If ICANN's track record with the new gTLD domain names is any indication, come late 2018, even .com domain name renewal fees may be subject to price gouging by the Registry and Registrars.

ICANN, under the influence of its insiders and special interests, made sure that the new gTLD domain names were not like .com domain names, when it came to renewal fees, or other Registry restrictions. Currently, known new gTLD domain name renewal fees run as high as $30,000 per year per domain name. That is not a typo, yes, $30,000 (US$). This is, apparently, what ICANN considers "innovation" and "enhancing competition and consumer choice."

ICANN is nowhere ready to be let loose and allowed to run around unsupervised. Proof of that is in ICANN's disastrous roll-out of the new gTLD domain names program. Unfortunately, this is not the only disaster ICANN has created or allowed. This is what happens when you have an immature organization dominated by insiders and special interests. Remember, ICANN purposefully excluded users and domain name registrants from representation in ICANN (unlike registrars and registries and affiliates which are overrepresented). Do not believe ICANN when it talks about multistakeholderism. That is just another word ICANN uses for letting the foxes guard the hen house.

Caveat Emptor!


Follow @DomainMondo
Seguir a @DomainMondo

*IANA Functions and Related Root Zone Management Transition Questions and Answers | NTIA: "Q. Are the legacy top level domains associated with U.S. Government (e.g., .mil., .gov, .edu) part of this transition? A. No, the operation of and responsibility for the three remaining legacy top level domains associated with the U.S. Government specifically .mil, .gov, and .edu are not impacted by this transition as they are not part of the IANA and related root zone management functions." -- no mention of what happens to other legacy top level domains like .com, .net and .org which have been protected from price-gouging only by action of the US Government  -- ICANN: Important Corrections To Inaccuracies and Misconceptions Regarding U.S. Announcement: "As we know under the the last Verisign contract it was the US Department of Commerce that stepped up at the last moment to stop the 4 out of 6 year rate increases of 7%."