A Topic on Capitol Hill Thursday — Domain Names
Hearing to discuss ICANN’s future will be held Thursday.
Domain names, specifically ICANN, will be discussed tomorrow in Washington.
The House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet will hold a congressional hearing tomorrow regarding the future of ICANN and the U.S. government’s involvement. ICANN has by now garnered the support of Al Gore and former ICANN chairman Vint Cerf that the joint project agreement ought to be concluded, effectively cutting ICANN free.
Still, some of the witnesses tomorrow will push for continued oversight, such as Go Daddy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary Christine Jones. Go Daddy believes the JPA ought to be renewed, or as an alternative, extended for a year to allow time to work on what ought to be included in the fresh agreement. Although ICANN has made some progress toward its goals, Go Daddy thinks there’s more to be accomplished.
Go Daddy has released to Reglike an advance excerpt of Jones’ planned testimony tomorrow:
…The Joint Project Agreement (JPA) between ICANN and the Department of Commerce ought to be extended and modified, or renewed and modified, to stress the need to correct these deficiencies and require a clear road map from ICANN as to how it will regain the confidence of the community upon which its existence relies. This Committee’s commitment to ensuring ICANN appropriately administers that system is vital.
Private, bottom-up coordination, and representation ought to be a guiding principle in the ICANN policy making process. While we have repeatedly urged ICANN to abide by this principle, they have chosen instead to conduct business behind closed doors and without input from the ICANN community.
Unfortunately, ICANN has yet to commit to or is unable to commit to openness, transparency, and accountability. ICANN is responsible for an notable public trust. To preserve this public trust, it is vital that all stakeholders have access to and recognized input in these types of discussions. The entire Internet community ought to be made to fully understand the reasons for ICANN’s decisions, and to have effective and unbiased recourse if they have reason to question those processes and decisions. In fact, it is bigger than the Internet community; these decisions impact the overall economy in a significant way. President Obama has repeatedly emphasized the significance of the Internet to overall economic and security success in the United States. Indeed, the president has established two fresh roles in his administration: a chief technology officer and a cyber advisor. Importantly, President Obama stated last July, “[a]s president, I’ll make cyber security the top priority that it ought to be in the 21st century.” ICANN ought to be held to that same standard…
