Senate Commerce Hearing on ICANN & IANA Transition, Tuesday, May 24

2016-05-19

Senate Commerce Hearing on ICANN & IANA Transition, Tuesday, May 24

UPDATE May 25, 2016: IANA Transition, What's Next, Years of Litigation in U.S. Federal Courts?
and May 26, 2016 Enhancing ICANN Accountability, Much Work Left for Work Stream 2.

U.S. Senator John Thune (R-S.D.), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, announced a full committee hearing titled “Examining the Multistakeholder Plan for Transitioning the Internet Assigned Number Authority,” Tuesday, May 24, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. ET in the Senate Russell Building 253, Washington, D.C. Witness testimony, opening statements, and video livestream will be available on the Senate Commerce Committee website.

[UPDATE] Witnesses:

Mr. Michael Beckerman, President and CEO, The Internet Association
Mr. Steve DelBianco, Executive Director, NetChoice
The Honorable David A. Gross, former U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, U.S. State Department
Mr. Rick Manning, President, Americans for Limited Government
Mr. Brett Schaefer, Jay Kingham Fellow in International Regulatory Affairs, Heritage Foundation
Mr. Andrew Sullivan, Chair, Internet Architecture Board

According to the announcement: "The hearing will examine the proposed transition of oversight of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), a department of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that allocates Internet IP addresses and domain names, to the global multistakeholder community. Two years ago, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced its intention to transition IANA functions. On March 10, 2016, ICANN forwarded to the NTIA a transition proposal developed by the international community of Internet stakeholders. The NTIA set a target of 90 days to complete its review. Witnesses will testify on advantages and disadvantages of the proposed transition of IANA functions to the global multistakeholder community." (emphasis added)

Prepared Testimony of Brett Schaefer (highlighting added):

TheHill.com also reports Republican members of Congress are again moving to block the Obama administration's plan to hand off oversight of the internet domain name system. "A House Appropriations subcommittee on Wednesday advanced a funding bill for Commerce, Justice and Science that included a provision barring the government from using funds to make the transition through 2017 ... Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) appears to be circulating a letter to colleagues pressing the head of the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA) to delay the handoff amid concerns." (TheHill, supra, emphasis added).

Members of the Committee:

Majority Members: