Internet governance

Internet Governance is a broad term and has many definitions depending on the context. In general Internet governance is the development of norms and principles relating to how the Internet functions by a group of stakeholders including governments, organizations, and commissions and the regulation and administration of those principals by the parties involved. Aside from structural issues, Internet Governance can include conversations around access, policy and content.

According to the Report of the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) (June 2005 P.4) Internet Governance is the development and application by governments,the private sector, and civil society in their respective roles of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programs that shape the evolution and use of the Internet. Internet Governance was as an idea convoked by the UN Secretary General in the backdrop if WSIS 2003 (Geneva), and WSIS 2005 (Tunisia).

Organizations[edit | edit source]

Some of the organizations that are involved in the topic of Internet governance include:

ICANN Involvement[edit | edit source]

ICANN considers itself part of the Internet governance ecosystem, although the organization is wary of wading into areas that are beyond the organization's mission. In 2013/2014 the topic of Internet Governance was widely discussed within the ICANN community, and in November 2013 ICANN set up a Strategy Panel on ICANN's Role in the Internet Governance Ecosystem, along with a few other strategy panels. The panel was lead by Vint Cerf and was tasked with reviewing ICANN's role in the Internet governance ecosystem and recommending a roadmap for future involvement in the ecosystem.^[1]

IANA Functions Stewardship Transition[edit | edit source]

The IANA Functions Stewardship Transition is a process and community discussion regarding the transition of IANA functions stewardship from its historical contract with the United States government's NTIA to the global Internet community. The process and discussion is spearheaded by ICANN and its various stakeholder groups, and was catalyzed by an announcement in March 2014 by NTIA that they would be relinquishing the stewardship to the Internet community.

NTIA Announcement[edit | edit source]

In March 2014 NTIA released a statement that they are intent on transitioning their part of the IANA functions away from NTIA and to the global stakeholder community. The first step in this process is for ICANN to convene stakeholders and create a proposal for how the IANA functions will remain secure and unwavering. The press release outlined a number of principles which the ICANN-community drafted proposal must meet:

Must Support and enhance the multistakeholder model;
Must Maintain the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet DNS;
Must Meet the needs and expectation of the global customers and partners of the IANA services; and,
Must Maintain the openness of the Internet.

The current NTIA contract with ICANN expires on 30 September, 2014, and members of the ICANN community took that date as a deadline for drafting and agreeing on a proposal.^[2]

ICANN subsequently published their own press release that applauded NTIA's announcement and called it a recognition of the U.S. government to ICANN's "maturation in becoming an effective multistakeholder organization".^[3]

Global media outlets picked up on the NTIA press release, with many United States media reporting that the United States Government was "giving up control of the Internet".