Congress Can Provide Oversight of US Post-Transition Role in ICANN, CRS Says
Congress can still play a role in influencing ICANN policy after the completed Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition by overseeing the U.S. role within the organization, the Congressional Research Service reported. Congress didn’t delay the IANA oversight spinoff in September…
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despite concerns among some GOP lawmakers (see 1609220067 and 1609280067). With the switch complete, “Congress may continue assessing how effectively NTIA is advancing U.S. government positions within the [ICANN] Governmental Advisory Committee,” CRS said. It said Congress may also choose to examine the extent to which “ongoing and future intergovernmental telecommunications conferences” at the ITU and elsewhere “constitute an opportunity for some nations to increase intergovernmental control over the Internet -- at the expense of the multistakeholder system of Internet governance -- and how effectively NTIA and other government agencies (such as the State Department) are working to counteract that threat.” The upcoming Dec. 6-9 Internet Governance Forum in Guadalajara, Mexico, the 2017 World Telecommunication Development Conference and the ITU’s 2018 Plenipotentiary Conference are seen as potential flash points on internet governance issues (see 1610030042). The debate on internet governance “will likely have a significant impact on how other aspects of the Internet may be governed in the future, especially in such areas as intellectual property, privacy, law enforcement, Internet free speech, and cybersecurity,” CRS said. “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.”