18 Years in the Making: IANA Transition Moves Forward as Planned, Despite Republican Pushback

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Despite last ditch efforts by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and others to block the transfer of Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions to ICANN, over the weekend the contract between ICANN and the U.S. Department of Commerce expired, effectively handing over IANA functions to ICANN.

“This transition was envisioned 18 years ago, yet it was the tireless work of the global Internet community, which drafted the final proposal, that made this a reality,” ICANN Board Chair Stephen D. Crocker said in a statement. “This community validated the multistakeholder model of Internet governance. It has shown that a governance model defined by the inclusion of all voices, including business, academics, technical experts, civil society, governments and many others is the best way to assure that the Internet of tomorrow remains as free, open and accessible as the Internet of today.”

The Internet Governance Coalition, in a statement released on Monday, praised the IANA stewardship transition but said that “there is still much work that needs to be done to ensure the accountability and transparency of ICANN.” The Coalition includes members such as Comcast, GoDaddy, and Microsoft.

“The transition of IANA from the U.S. government to the global internet community is the result of years of hard work and collaboration and validates the multi-stakeholder governance model. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of many people and organizations from across the community, a plan has been implemented that includes strong accountability measures and upholds the bottom-up approach that embodies the very nature of the open internet we experience today. Although this is an important step in the transition process, there is still much work that needs to be done to ensure the accountability and transparency of ICANN. We look forward to working with the multi-stakeholder community on these ongoing efforts.”

You can read more about the IANA stewardship transition on the ICANN blog.

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