By Emily Taylor, director of legal and policy at Nominet

With a new agreement between the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the US Department of Commerce confirmed, the organisation which oversees the Internet may now be in a position to become more autonomous.

Known as the ‘Joint Project Agreement’, the arrangement replaces the old ‘memorandum of understanding’ (MoU) which expired at the end of September 2006. Described by Dr Paul Twomey, CEO of ICANN, as “a major step forward for ICANN autonomy”, the agreement confirms that the US government will hand control of the Internet to the private sector in the future.

Since its inception, ICANN was always meant to be part of the private sector. However, it has remained under US government control since 1999. With the Internet used by millions of people worldwide, there has been mounting international pressure to ensure its management remains neutral and free from political pressure. This came to a head in May 2006 with ICANN throwing out the idea of a .xxx domain name, which was seen as symptomatic of political interference.

However, this interference may now become a thing of the past. As Dr Twomey explained, “The big difference is that we will no longer have our work prescribed by the Department of Commerce and no longer have to report to them every six months with lots of hurdles for us to jump.” However, it remains to be seen if this will be the case.

We welcome the new agreement as a step in the right direction, but feel that ICANN is not fully ready to stand alone. If the Department of Commerce withdrew its function at the moment, nobody has really articulated what ICANN would look like and how it might be overseen.

Historically, there has been extensive debate about who controls ICANN, but there have been few, if any, compelling visions articulated as to how and whether to replace the current US Government role. In our view, a transition to any other oversight would need to ensure that security and stability of the domain name system were preserved.

This new agreement will please many commentators who were calling for greater transparency and accountability from ICANN. It also responds to those, including Nominet, who were pressing for a lightweight agreement to replace the MoU; one which, on the face of it at least, looks like the Department of Commerce is serious about making a transition.

ICANN has developed a strong structure that from a technical point of view has kept the Internet stable and reliable. In this respect, Nominet is keen to see that there is as little technical upheaval as possible - both now and in the future.

The organisation has come a long way in terms of corporate governance over the years and is now more mature and accountable than it has been. However, further attention to these important issues is essential as ICANN’s relationship with the US government evolves. If and when it becomes an independent body, it will need to assure the Internet community that it is living up to expectations, operating efficiently and has effective oversight.

The key to a successful and independent ICANN is strong corporate governance, clear policy, transparency and accountability to all stakeholders. There is some evidence that these policies and structures are being developed, but achieving true accountability to all will be a real challenge, given the many and varied viewpoints and the likely compromises that will have to be taken. However, the bottom line remains stability - only with stable control of the Internet, will everyone benefit from the opportunities that are presented by this technology that has so radically opened up the world.

This entry was posted in October, 2006.
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