Changes

As Assistant Secretary for Communication and Information of the Department of Commerce and NTIA Administrator, Strickling actively participates in the different activities and policy development issues of ICANN. During the ICANN meeting in Cartagena on December 7, 2010, Strickling pointed out the United States government’s commitment to the internet governing body’s multi-stakeholder model. He informed the ICANN Board that he spent 12 months analyzing the global expansion of the multi-stakeholder model to other aspects of internet policy and the Department of Commerce established the Internet Policy Task Force, which will concentrate on issues related to online privacy, copyright protection, cyber security and the free flow of information worldwide. He also pointed out that the Affirmation of Commitment between ICANN and the United States government is serious document. ICANN needs to keep its responsibilities in the Affirmation of Commitment and promote a higher quality in decision-making. Regarding the issue on the expansion of new gTLD’s, he pointed out tha U.S. government is expecting ICANN to issue a serious economic study since other government and organization expressed their concerns and cited that the cost of the large expansion of top level domain names outweighs the benefits. Furthermore, he stressed that one of the top challenges of ICANN is its relationship with foreign governments and the [[GAC|Governmental Advisory Committee]] is the perfect avenue for ICANN to reach out, deal with foreign governments and show the benefits of participating in the ICANN process.<ref>[ http://domainincite.com/docs/Transcript-Strickling-ICANN-Board-Session.pdf ICANN - Cartagena, BOARD Meeting with LARRY STRICKLING, December 7, 2010]</ref>

As Assistant Secretary for Communication and Information of the Department of Commerce and NTIA Administrator, Strickling actively participates in the different activities and policy development issues of ICANN. During the ICANN meeting in Cartagena on December 7, 2010, Strickling pointed out the United States government’s commitment to the internet governing body’s multi-stakeholder model. He informed the ICANN Board that he spent 12 months analyzing the global expansion of the multi-stakeholder model to other aspects of internet policy and the Department of Commerce established the Internet Policy Task Force, which will concentrate on issues related to online privacy, copyright protection, cyber security and the free flow of information worldwide. He also pointed out that the Affirmation of Commitment between ICANN and the United States government is serious document. ICANN needs to keep its responsibilities in the Affirmation of Commitment and promote a higher quality in decision-making. Regarding the issue on the expansion of new gTLD’s, he pointed out tha U.S. government is expecting ICANN to issue a serious economic study since other government and organization expressed their concerns and cited that the cost of the large expansion of top level domain names outweighs the benefits. Furthermore, he stressed that one of the top challenges of ICANN is its relationship with foreign governments and the [[GAC|Governmental Advisory Committee]] is the perfect avenue for ICANN to reach out, deal with foreign governments and show the benefits of participating in the ICANN process.<ref>[ http://domainincite.com/docs/Transcript-Strickling-ICANN-Board-Session.pdf ICANN - Cartagena, BOARD Meeting with LARRY STRICKLING, December 7, 2010]</ref>

===Issue on Co-Ownership Between Registries and Registrars on Existing and New gTLDs===

===Issue on Co-Ownership Between Registries and Registrars for Existing and New gTLDs===

On June 16, 2011, Strickling  wrote to the [[ICANN Board]] through is Chairman [[Peter Dengate Thrush]] in conjunction with the implementation of the new gTLD programs. The DOC Assistant Secretary pointed out that some of the resolutions approved by the ICANN Board will affect the competition within the [[DNS]] market place such as the non-restriction for cross-ownership between registries and registrars and allowing the existing registry operators to adopt the new form of registry agreement once the new gTLD program is implemented. Strickling pointed out that it is critical to preserve competition as well as consumer protection. He advised the ICANN Board to evaluate and consider the concerns raised by the European Commission and other competition authorities before implementing the changes adopted by the Board regarding the restriction changes on cross-ownership between registries and registrars for existing ad new [[gTLD]]s. Furthermore, he shared the evaluation and advise provided by the U.S. Department of Justice Anti-Trust Division regarding the issues.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/correspondence/strickling-to-dengate-thrush-16jun11-en.pdf Strickling Correspondence to Dengate-Thrush-Re:Cross-Ownership Between Registries and Registrars]</ref>

On June 16, 2011, Strickling  wrote to the [[ICANN Board]] through is Chairman [[Peter Dengate Thrush]] in conjunction with the implementation of the new gTLD programs. The DOC Assistant Secretary pointed out that some of the resolutions approved by the ICANN Board will affect the competition within the [[DNS]] market place such as the non-restriction for cross-ownership between registries and registrars and allowing the existing registry operators to adopt the new form of registry agreement once the new gTLD program is implemented. Strickling pointed out that it is critical to preserve competition as well as consumer protection. He advised the ICANN Board to evaluate and consider the concerns raised by the European Commission and other competition authorities before implementing the changes adopted by the Board regarding the restriction changes on cross-ownership between registries and registrars for existing and new [[gTLD]]s. Furthermore, he shared the evaluation and advise provided by the U.S. Department of Justice Anti-Trust Division regarding the issues.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/correspondence/strickling-to-dengate-thrush-16jun11-en.pdf Strickling Correspondence to Dengate-Thrush-Re:Cross-Ownership Between Registries and Registrars]</ref>

==References==

==References==