[AfrICANN-discuss] ICANN seeks to quell concerns on the Hill

[Anne-Rachel Inné]

 http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090923_5203.php?oref=topnewsICANN seeks
to quell concerns on the Hill

By Andrew Noyes, CongressDaily<http://www.nationaljournal.com/congressdaily/>
 09/23/2009

The California-based entity that administers the world's Internet addresses
has assured lawmakers it is committed to a "long-term, formal relationship"
with the U.S. government.

It made its pledge in a letter Tuesday, a week before the expiration of an
agreement between the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
and National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom told House Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith and
House Judiciary Courts and Competition Subcommittee ranking member Howard
Coble, R-N.C., in the letter that he is working with NTIA to set guidelines
under which ICANN would promise to remain a U.S.-based nonprofit and
continue its focus on transparency and accountability.

The letter from Beckstrom, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who had served as
director of the Homeland Security Department's National Cybersecurity
Center, mirrored written testimony by ICANN Chief Operating Officer Doug
Brent, who appeared at a House Judiciary Courts and Competition Subcommittee
hearing today to vouch for the organization's planned expansion of top-level
domains such as .biz, .info and .us.

ICANN has faced scrutiny on Capitol Hill and among industry stakeholders as
it seeks more independence from federal oversight, as well as the ability to
bring potentially hundreds of new domain names to market. Beckstrom's
predecessor, Paul Twomey, weathered a hostile House Energy and Commerce
Communications Subcommittee hearing this summer.

Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and Energy and Commerce
Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., urged Commerce
Secretary Locke in August to press for a set of enduring principles to
"place beyond doubt the value of the current [relationship]" and prevent any
one entity from controlling the underpinnings of the Internet.

Meanwhile, NTIA Associate Administrator Fiona Alexander and senior adviser
Larry Atlas quietly visited Asia, Europe and South America this month to
share details about the path forward for the United States and ICANN with
their foreign counterparts. Key Hill aides have also been briefed on the new
agreement, sources said.afri
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