A decisive breakthrough has been made in the process started nearly two decades ago to put the administration of the Internet Domain Name System in private hands. The National Telecommunications & Information Administration of the United States Department of Commerce, NTIA, is now prepared to finally transfer the IANA functions to ICANN and to fully withdraw from its stewardship role.
“We informed ICANN today that based on that review and barring any significant impediment, NTIA intends to allow the IANA functions contract to expire as of October 1,” Lawrence E. Strickling, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator explained. The ICANN community drafted a comprehensive proposal for the so-called “IANA Stewardship Transition” over a period of almost two years, with more than 32,000 emails and more than 600 meetings and telephone conferences.
Now the project to give ICANN its independence is drawing to an end. Thomas Rickert,  Director Names and Numbers at eco – Association of the Internet Industry, who was Co-Chair of the working group focusing on ICANN accountability and a key contributor to the proposal submitted to the American government, welcomed the announcement: “Since the NTIA basically gave a green light for the plans that ICANN had drawn up in June, stakeholders around the globe have been eagerly awaiting the final approval. Now it looks like we’ve made the final decisive breakthrough.”
Previous eco articles on the IANA Stewardship Transition can be found here.
