Back in January we shared our comments with the Commerce Department for its mid-term review of the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) on transitioning ICANN to be a fully independent organization. Along with many other private sector folks, we urged Commerce to seriously evaluate the potential threats before ‘cutting the cord’ with ICANN.
These threats include national governments displacing the private sector from its historical role as manager of the Internet’s domain name system and without the USG’s current oversight role, ICANN being “captured” by the governments that are today its harshest critics – a scenario that no one wants.
Commerce apparently shared our concerns, and gave ICANN these specific points to work on during the second half of the Joint Project Agreement:“long term stability; accountability; responsiveness; continued private sector leadership, stakeholder participation; increased contract compliance; and enhanced competition.
We’ll continue our wok within ICANN over the next eighteen months to help meet these challenges.