INTERNET SOCIETY CALLS FOR GREATER AUTONOMY FOR KEY INTERNET ORGANIZATION
Reston, VA and Geneva, Switzerland - 26th July 2006 - Speaking during
today's US Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA) public meeting on the transition of
the Internet's domain name system (DNS) to the private sector, ISOC
President and CEO Lynn St. Amour outlined how key Internet organizations
need to have enough autonomy to respond appropriately to the
fast-changing technical and operational environment of the Internet.
ISOC's comments come as the current Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
between the US Commerce Department and the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) concerning administration of the
DNS approaches expiry at the end of September 2006.
ISOC has always promoted the self-regulation model of the Internet, and
supports ICANN and the role it plays in coordinating certain aspects of
the "collaborative" Internet management model. Furthermore, ISOC
believes that ICANN along with its related organizations and their
supporting processes are now ready to take the next step in the move to
support the Internet's management and development in a private sector
model, just as envisioned by the US Government in 1998.
"While we recognize and applaud the 'light hand' the US Government has
always taken with respect to the Internet, we believe it is time to move
to a minimal, transitional MOU where the US Government plays a
'backstop' role that would only come into play in the event of a serious
organizational failure," said Ms. St. Amour. "We consider the MOU in its
present form no longer necessary or appropriate at this stage of the
Internet and ICANN=92s development. ISOC believes a clear unambiguous
signal needs to be made internationally that we are entering a new phase
and taking steps to move to the private sector model per the original
vision of the US Government."
ISOC believes the success of the Internet lies in the fact that it is
a "network of networks" characterized by distributed management and a
minimum of regulation with operational and governance mechanisms being
implemented as locally as possible using bottom-up community based
processes built on publicly developed principles. These principles and
processes have enabled the Internet to grow rapidly and adapt to new
demands and opportunities -- and this is where the strength and
stability of the Internet model lies.
Note to Editors:
The full text of today's ISOC statement is available here:
http://www.isoc.org/pubpolpillar/ISOC_NTIA_statement_060726.pdf
ISOC's response to the NTIA's Notice of Inquiry is available here:
http://www.isoc.org/pubpolpillar/ISOC_NTIA_response_060707.pdf
About ISOC
The Internet Society is a not-for-profit membership organization founded
in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education,
and policy. With offices in Washington, DC, and Geneva, Switzerland, it
is dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution and use of the
Internet for the benefit of people throughout the world. ISOC is the
organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and
other Internet-related bodies who together play a critical role in
ensuring that the Internet develops in a stable and open manner. For
over 14 years ISOC has run international network training programs for
developing countries and these have played a vital role in setting up
the Internet connections and networks in virtually every country
connecting to the Internet during this time.
For further details:
Internet Society
E-mail: info@isoc.org
1775 Wiehle Ave., Suite 102
Reston, VA 20190-5108, USA
4 rue des Falaises
CH-1205 Geneva
Switzerland
Peter Godwin (godwin@isoc.org)