Senator Ron Wyden wrote a letter to NTIA Assistant Secretary Strickling on September 14, 2011 regarding the issue of “revolving door” between the domain name industry and ICANN. Reports and commentaries were written about Dengate Thrush immediate acceptance as Chairman of Minds+Machines less than a month after his term expired as Chairman of the ICANN Board on June 24, 2011. Several individuals from the internet community were uncomfortable with Dengate Thrush move since he voted for the approval of the implementation of the new gTLD program days after his term expired and he was the first ICANN chairperson to accept a high paying job from a company dedicated in providing complete gTLD application and registry services. Dengate Thrush did not violate any rule since there is no policy preventing the members ICANN Board to join companies in the domain industry after their term expired. The internet community including Senator Wyden recommended for the development of a new ethics policy to prevent the “revolving door.” In his letter to Strickling, Senator Wyden stated that the designated IANA plays a huge role in regulating the multi-million dollar domain name industry. Since IANA is not an agency of the federal government, its’ executives are not bound by the same financial, ethics or conflict of interest rules followed by executives of federal agencies or members of the Congress. According to Wyden, '''“While I support the control of this system by NTIA, I also believe that any IANA employees ought to be made subject to the same ethics rules in place as NTIA employees. With the growth in importance of this authority, it is important to ensure that decisions are made impartially.”''' Senator Wyden recommended strict ethics guidelines with emphasis on transparency for the next contract negotiation with ICANN or any other organization that will be selected to operate IANA.<ref>[http://wyden.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=2e414e69-1250-4ca3-ae6b-2b6091ed52cc Wyden Calls for Ethics Rules to Prevent Revolving Door for Internet Domain Name Regulators]</ref> | Senator Ron Wyden wrote a letter to NTIA Assistant Secretary Strickling on September 14, 2011 regarding the issue of “revolving door” between the domain name industry and ICANN. Reports and commentaries were written about Dengate Thrush immediate acceptance as Chairman of Minds+Machines less than a month after his term expired as Chairman of the ICANN Board on June 24, 2011. Several individuals from the internet community were uncomfortable with Dengate Thrush move since he voted for the approval of the implementation of the new gTLD program days after his term expired and he was the first ICANN chairperson to accept a high paying job from a company dedicated in providing complete gTLD application and registry services. Dengate Thrush did not violate any rule since there is no policy preventing the members ICANN Board to join companies in the domain industry after their term expired. The internet community including Senator Wyden recommended for the development of a new ethics policy to prevent the “revolving door.” In his letter to Strickling, Senator Wyden stated that the designated IANA plays a huge role in regulating the multi-million dollar domain name industry. Since IANA is not an agency of the federal government, its’ executives are not bound by the same financial, ethics or conflict of interest rules followed by executives of federal agencies or members of the Congress. According to Wyden, '''“While I support the control of this system by NTIA, I also believe that any IANA employees ought to be made subject to the same ethics rules in place as NTIA employees. With the growth in importance of this authority, it is important to ensure that decisions are made impartially.”''' Senator Wyden recommended strict ethics guidelines with emphasis on transparency for the next contract negotiation with ICANN or any other organization that will be selected to operate IANA.<ref>[http://wyden.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=2e414e69-1250-4ca3-ae6b-2b6091ed52cc Wyden Calls for Ethics Rules to Prevent Revolving Door for Internet Domain Name Regulators]</ref> |