CRS Finds Important Congressional Role in Evaluating IANA Transition Plans
Two Congressional Research Service reports released Friday via the Federation of American Scientists didn’t include a final determination of whether NTIA should allow the planned Internet Assigned Numbers Authority oversight transition to proceed. They said Congress has an important role…
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in evaluating ICANN’s IANA transition-related plans. Congress is “likely to closely examine” the IANA transition-related proposals that ICANN submitted to NTIA March 10, CRS said in a Wednesday-dated report. “The institutional nature of Internet governance could have far-reaching implications on important policy decisions that will likely shape the future evolution of the Internet.” Members of the House Communications Subcommittee said March 17 that they are increasingly at ease with the direction of the IANA transition but promised to continue to exercise oversight over the transition process until it concludes (see 1603170051). Questions about Internet governance are becoming “more pressing, with national governments recognizing an increasing stake in ICANN policy decisions, especially in cases where Internet DNS [domain name system] policy intersects with national laws and interests,” CRS said in a Tuesday-dated report. Congress should evaluate the IANA plans based in part on “what organizational structures and safeguards should be in place within the multistakeholder transition plan to ensure that the domain name system remains stable, efficient, and free from the disproportionate influence of intergovernmental entities (such as the United Nations) as well as from other governments who may be hostile to U.S. interests,” CRS said. IANA transition skeptics have cited NTIA oversight of IANA as a “backstop” that “has given Internet stakeholders confidence that the integrity and stability of the DNS is being sufficiently overseen,” CRS said. Transition supporters have said if the switch doesn’t occur, the U.S. “will continue to be in the paradoxical and problematic position of opposing moves in intergovernmental fora to increase the power of governments in governing the Internet, while at the same time maintaining its unilateral authority over the Internet DNS by virtue of the IANA contract,” CRS said.