2016-06-09

NTIA's IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal Assessment Report

UPDATE June 9, 2016: POLITICO.com reports that despite today's NTIA report (see below), Congressman John Shimkus (author of the bipartisan DOTCOM Act), thinks his fellow Republicans will continue to push an appropriations rider that will prevent NTIA from going ahead with the IANA stewardship transition.

NTIA released its IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal Assessment Report today, June 09, 2016, (embedded in full below with all attachments, press release and fact sheet, NTIA Q&A), which in the words of one ICANN stakeholder:
"Conclusions seem favorable ... [t]hough we may have some issues on PTI to review."
According to Politico.com, NTIA is also directing ICANN to complete technical testing with Verisign to test making changes to root zone file. Verisign and ICANN are 60 days into the testing with no errors. NTIA has given ICANN until Aug. 12 to report back on progress, seven weeks before the U.S. government's current contract with the organization expires. "We will make an evaluation in early August as to whether or not any extension of that contract will be necessary," Strickling was quoted as saying.

Excerpts from NTIA's report:
"ACTION: NTIA recommends the respective communities and ICANN consider, if they have not already, additional processes by which to evaluate the Board and management of PTI in meeting any standards of conduct they deem necessary to guide ethical values and integrity in achieving their objectives."--NTIA report embedded below (p. 98 of 172). 
"While few organizations would find such an extremely complex framework attractive, it is well-suited to the unique nature of ICANN. The roles and processes identified by the CCWG Recommendations are not simple, but they are clear, and should provide for orderly decision-making processes at the Empowered Community level. The proposal contemplates that governance processes at the SO and AC level will be reviewed and enhanced in Work Stream 2 [after the IANA transition is finished]. This task is important, as the internal operations of these constituent parties will greatly impact the Empowered Community’s ability to function effectively and accountably." --NTIA report embedded below (p. 157 of 172) (emphasis added)
CaptureThrough Corruption. Recent events have shown that international organizations (especially those in the field of international sports) can be “captured” through corruption. Leading officials of such organizations have pleaded guilty to (or have been indicted for) accepting bribes to determine the location of international sporting events (such as the location of soccer’s World’s Cup). Correspondingly, it is at least imaginable that a government or a private actor could bribe the board of ICANN to vote the way it wishes on some hypothetical critical decision. Of course, this would have also been possible even under the existing structure of ICANN, as NTIA did not have any investigative machinery dedicated to detecting instances of bribery or corruption."--NTIA report embedded below (p. 170 of 172)
NTIA Press Release and Fact Sheet--NTIA Finds IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal Meets Criteria to Complete Privatization:


NTIA June 9, 2016 Compiled IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal Assessment Report (with attachments)--conclusion starts on page 25 (26 of 172):


NTIA Q&A:


References: IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal Assessment Report(pdf)
See also on Domain MondoUS Senator Ted Cruz: Delay IANA Transition, Save Internet Freedom

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

Domain Mondo archive