U.S. invites comments on ICANN contract

July 3, 2006 —

A branch of the U.S. Commerce Department is accepting comments on the fate of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization that supervises Internet domain names.

The deadline for comments is Friday, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which began soliciting input June 7.

The U.S. government pledged in 1997 to privatize ICANN, a nonprofit organization based in California, and invite more international participation in its policy making. The comments will be incorporated into a public meeting on ICANN's transition on July 26.

ICANN has been criticized for falling under the control of the U.S. government. The Commerce Department has had agreements with ICANN since 1998 concerning its transition, and the latest agreement expires Sept. 30.

ICANN's position in both the administration of the Internet and location within the U.S. has made it a target for criticism.

Companies that manage country-code Top Level Domain (ccTLDs) have charged that ICANN has not been transparent enough in its governance practices. Those disputes have only recently been resolved, with seven registries making arrangements to work with ICANN over the last two months.

The U.S., while pledging cooperation, has also asserted the large role it will continue to play, citing the need for stability and security in light of Internet commerce.

In July 2005, the U.S. said it would not take "action that would have the potential to adversely impact the effective and efficient operation of the DNS and will therefore maintain its historic role in authorizing changes or modifications to the authoritative root zone file."

ICANN's jurisdiction includes oversight of the 13 root servers worldwide that match top level domain names with numeric addresses needed to serve Web pages. It also has the power to approve new top level domains, such as ".tel" approved in May, and technical policy making crucial to the functioning of the Internet.

Opinions posted on NTIA's Web site appear to be part of a semicoordinated campaign of form-letter writing, with writers listing home countries of Togo, Nigeria, Jordan, Brazil, Morocco and Haiti, among others. Most favor the creation of an organization distanced from the U.S. government.

"The best institution would be a nonprofit foundation controlled by nonprofit, nongovernmental institutions with an interest in the free flow of information," wrote Thomas Doehne, of Novato, California.

"As the U.S. reviews its contract with ICANN, it should work cooperatively with all stakeholders to complete the transition to a Domain Name System independent of U.S. governmental control," wrote Laurent Mellinger of France.

Comments can be e-mailed to DNSTransition@ntia.doc.gov. The department is immediately publishing the comments on its Web site at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/.

IDG News Service