Domain Names a Topic on Capitol Hill Thursday
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
Hearing to discuss ICANNâs 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 about the future of ICANN and the U.S. governmentâs involvement. ICANN has already garnered the support of Al Gore and former ICANN chairman Vint Cerf that the joint project agreement should be concluded, effectively cutting ICANN free.
However, 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 should be renewed, or as an alternative, extended for a year to allow time to work on what should be included in the new agreement. Although ICANN has made some progress toward its goals, Go Daddy thinks thereâs more to be accomplished.
Go Daddy has released to Domain Name Wire an advance excerpt of Jonesâ planned testimony tomorrow:
â¦The Joint Project Agreement (JPA) between ICANN and the Department of Commerce should 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 Committeeâs commitment to ensuring ICANN appropriately administers that system is vital.
Private, bottom-up coordination, and representation should 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 important 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 should be made to fully understand the reasons for ICANNâs 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 new roles in his administration: a chief technology officer and a cyber advisor. Importantly, President Obama said last July, â[a]s president, Iâll make cyber security the top priority that it should be in the 21st century.â ICANN should be held to that same standardâ¦
