US to relinquish key oversight role for internet

The decision is aimed at supporting and enhancing the multi-stakeholder model of internet policymaking and governance: NTIA

The US has announced it will give up its control over internet's technical operations, handing over those functions to “the global multi-stakeholder community”.

The US stated  on Friday, sought to convene global stakeholders to develop a proposal to transition away from US oversight of the internet's domain name system.

The decision is aimed at supporting and enhancing the multi-stakeholder model of internet policymaking and governance, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) said.

“The timing is right to start the transition process,” assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information, Lawrence E Strickling, said. In 1997, the internet domain system was handed over by the US government to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit group. “We look forward to ICANN convening stakeholders across the global Internet community to craft an appropriate transition plan,” he added.

NTIA said ICANN are uniquely positioned, as both the current Internet Assigned Numbers Authority functions contractor and the global coordinator for the DNS (domain name system), as the appropriate party to convene the multi-stakeholder process to develop the transition plan.

NTIA has said it expects that in the development of the proposal, ICANN will work collaboratively with the affected parties, including the Internet Engineering Task Force, the Internet Architecture Board, the Internet Society, the Regional Internet Registries, top-level domain name operators, VeriSign, and other global stakeholders. NTIA said it will not accept a proposal that replaces its role with a government-led or an inter-governmental organisation solution.