U.S. Handing Over Internet Reins to Global Community - Transition to Occur in September of 2015

As of next fall, the U.S. government will no longer govern how the Internet is run, the regulatory body in charge has announced.

The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) says it plans to hand control over to “the global multi-stakeholder community” when its governance contract expires Sept. 30, 2015.

NTIA has asked the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to oversee the transition and has requested the new leadership be made up of both private companies and government representatives.

“The timing is right to start the transition process,” said assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information Lawrence E. Strickling.  “We look forward to ICANN convening stakeholders across the global Internet community to craft an appropriate transition plan.”

NTIA told ICANN the transition must receive “broad community support” and adopt four principles:

• Support and enhance the multi-stakeholder model;
• Maintain the security, stability and resiliency of the Internet DNS;
• Meet the needs and expectation of the global customers and partners of the IANA services; and,
• Maintain the openness of the Internet.

ICANN president and CEO Fadi Chehadé said in a statement his organization is inviting governments, the private sector, civil society and other Internet organizations across the globe to participate in the process.

“The global multi-stakeholder process is defined by inclusion, and it will take some time to make sure that we obtain all of the necessary inputs,” said Chehadé. “By the time the current contract with the U.S. Government expires in September 2015, we will have a defined and clear process for global multi-stakeholder stewardship of ICANN’s performance of these technical functions.”

ICANN board chairman Dr. Stephen D. Crocker said the U.S. has always hoped stewardship of the Internet would be transferred to the global community.

“In other words, we have all long known the destination,” he said. “Now it is up to our global stakeholder community to determine the best route to get us there.”

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

U.S. Handing Over Internet Reins to Global Community

Jennifer Cowan is the Managing Editor for SiteProNews.

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