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IANA Functions Stewardship Transition

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The IANA Functions Stewardship Transition was a multistakeholder policy-making process and community discussion regarding the transition of IANA functions stewardship from the NTIA to the global Internet community. The process and discussion was 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.[1]

Background[edit | edit source]

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) was first proposed by Jon Postel while he was in graduate school at UCLA.[2] Postel realized that the ever-growing ARPANET would require a "numbers czar" to manage a canonical list of numbers and addresses to avoid address collisions.[2] He was appointed as the first numbers czar by general agreement. As the global Internet emerged, the "czar" position became formalized as IANA.

ICANN was initially a contractor to the NTIA as a service provider for the IANA functions. With its announcement in 2014, the NTIA confirmed and followed through on the U.S. Government's commitment to an Internet free of governmental (or United Nations) supervision. The first step in that process was for ICANN to convene stakeholders and create a proposal for how the IANA functions will remain secure and unwavering. The announcement outlined a number of principles which the ICANN 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.

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]

Reactions and Planning at ICANN 49[edit | edit source]

The NTIA announcement came a week before the first sessions at ICANN 49 in Singapore.[4] The announcement was a central topic of the meeting. During the course of the meeting, the IANA Transition Listserv was created.[5]

NCUC Conference on Internet Governance[edit | edit source]

The Noncommercial Users Constituency hosted a conference on March 21 that featured an address from Larry Strickling of the NTIA.[6] The NCUC conference was focused on issues of Internet governance, particularly in the lead-up to the netMundial conference[7] the following month. As Steve Crocker noted in his opening remarks, "[t]here's an awful lot of buzz, of course, about the announcement from NTIA about the transition of their role with respect to the IANA process."[8]

Strickling, in his "keynote assessment" session, was asked to respond to the panels that had come before through the course of the day, and to also provide context and background for the NTIA's decision. He emphasized that the NTIA intended ICANN to lead a collaborative process with all relevant organizations, both within and outside of the ICANN community:

But on the question of the multistakeholder involvement for all this, we've tried to make it very clear from the outset that this is broader than just ICANN. ICANN is the party with whom we contract for the performance of the IANA functions. ICANN obviously, through these meetings and through its activities, has great experience in terms of running multistakeholder processes and, more importantly, iterative multistakeholder processes where people can work together on an issue over a period of time to reach a consensus decision. So we've asked ICANN to convene, but we've made it very clear that this is something that we expect the Internet society, the Internet Engineering Task Force, the Internet Architecture Board, the RIRs, all of the technical community needs to be participating in this, and we expect that will be reflected in the session on Monday and will be reflected in the process as it's designed and carried out throughout all of this.[9]

Other Mentions[edit | edit source]

The Welcome Ceremony and President's Welcome featured the NTIA transition announcement prominently in both Steve Crocker and Fadi Chehade's remarks.[10] Chehade emphasized the seriousness of the task of transitioning the IANA functions to the global internet community, as well as the importance of strengthening ICANN's accountability and transparency.[10] The opening session was followed by a session specifically directed toward the topics of IANA Transition and ICANN accountability.[11] The session featured presentations from ICANN board chair Steve Crocker, as well as Fadi Chehade and others involved in the early coordination efforts for the transition. Initially, it was anticipated that the process would take eighteen months, culminating in the termination of ICANN's contract with NTIA in October 2015.[12] Chehade fielded a number of questions and comments regarding ICANN's role in transition planning.[11] This session represented the launch of the multistakeholder process to establish a plan for transitioning the IANA functions stewardship.[13] The session began with introductory comments from Steve Crocker, and then a short presentation from Brian Cute [14] intended to tee up questions regarding the evolution of ICANN's accountability principles, process, and commitments.[15] As Cute emphasized in his presentation, the session was largely devoted to listening to community input and impressions regarding ICANN's accountability and the three questions around the AoC.[15]

Other sessions that addressed or discussed the NTIA decision included a session presenting reports from the volunteer strategic panels involved in aspects of ICANN's strategic planning process,[16] as well as a plenary session on Internet Governance.[17] There was also much activity within the SO and AC working sessions during the conference around transition planning. At the Public Forum, the first item on the agenda was an overview of that work from SO/AC leadership, as well as a brief description of what the IANA functions actually are. [18]

Initial Steps and Scoping of Work[edit | edit source]

Following ICANN 49, ICANN published a "Draft Proposal, Based on Initial Community Feedback, of the Principles and Mechanisms and the Process to Develop a Proposal to Transition NTIA's Stewardship of the IANA Functions" for public comment in April 2014.[19] The proposal included a scoping document designed to focus discussion on what was expected of the process.[20] In a blog post following the publication of the draft proposal, Fadi Chehade applauded the ICANN community for its hard work and likened the upcoming transition to the removal of training wheels from a bicycle.[21] Notably, Chehade singled out that the "U.S. Government, including the NTIA" had approved the scoping document, and that the scope was "consistent with the views of the leaders of various Internet organizations including the Internet Engineering Task Force, the Internet Society and the Regional Internet Registries."

Scope[edit | edit source]

In addition to including the NTIA's "must-haves" from its March announcement, the scoping document presented a brief overview of the IANA functions and used that as the basis for defining the scope of the transition planning process:

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions are a set of interdependent technical functions that enable the continued efficient operation of the Internet. The IANA functions include: (1) the coordination of the assignment of technical Internet protocol parameters; (2) the processing of change requests to the authoritative root zone file of the DNS and root key signing key (KSK) management; (3) the allocation of Internet numbering resources; and (4) other services related to the management of the ARPA and INT top-level domains (TLDs)...
The dialogue and resulting proposal are to focus on defining accountability mechanisms that would serve to replace the current stewardship role played by NTIA to ensure ICANN’s performance of the IANA functions based on the agreements and/or policies provided by the respective bodies (IETF, GNSO, RIRs, ASO, ccTLDs, ccNSO).[20]

The scoping document also identified topics that had emerged during the ongoing community engagement process which, though important, were outside the scope of a process focused on developing a proposal for transition of stewardship of the IANA functions:

  • Policy development related to the IANA functions;
  • ICANN's current role as the IANA functions operator; and
  • A range of issues related to the Internet, but not related to the IANA functions, including data privacy, cybersecurity, child protection, IP protection, the management of TLDs, or the review or reform of ICANN.[20]

The scoping document was the subject of some debate on the listserv after its publication. Many participants disagreed with the limitations on the scope of the conversation. Brenden Kuerbis and Milton Mueller posted an amended version in redline that broadened the scope of discussion, and in particular argued for a continued separation between ICANN and the performance of the IANA functions.[22] When Chehade's "Training Wheels Off" blog post appeared, however, it appeared to some listserv participants that the scoping document was cast in stone.[5]

April 2014 Draft Proposal: Principles, Mechanisms, and Process[edit | edit source]

The draft proposal collected lists of principles and mechanisms proposed by the community during ICANN 49 and via listserv.[19] The report identified ten common themes in each category from the feedback received to date:

Principles Mechanisms
Inclusive
Transparent
Global
Accountable
Multistakeholder
Focused (in scope)
Pragmatic and evidence-based
Open to all voices
Do no harm
Based in consensus
 Web-based platform
Utilize working group methods
Organize dialogues
Leverage existing information and processes
Conduct stress tests
Establish a clear and visible timeline
Recognize discussion in other fora
Make engagement platforms widely accessible
Multilingual support
Multiple comment & feedback fora

Based on the recommendations and feedback received, ICANN proposed a steering group that would be composed of two representatives from each SO and AC, two representatives from "affected parties" IETF, IAB, ISOC, and NRO, a liaison from the ICANN Board, and a secretariat from ICANN staff to act as support to the group.[19] The steering group would be convened in time to convene for a first meeting at ICANN 50. During that meeting, the group would: elect a chair; finalize the group's charter; and establish processes and procedures for development of the transition proposal. Based on the experience of successful working groups, the draft identified three necessary elements of the development process:

  • Provide adequate time for affected parties and other interested parties to identify and define necessary elements of the transition proposal, so that the steering group can effectively deliberate on all elements;
  • "Appropriate" community outreach and input as the proposal is drafted; and
  • The finalization of the proposal for submission to the NTIA should be consensus-driven.[19]

The draft also posed specific questions for the community to consider as it provided comments and feedback. The draft again anticipated the process to be complete before the next expiration of the IANA contract between NTIA and ICANN in September 2015[19]

Public comment on the Draft Proposal was extensive.[5]

June 2014: Process and Next Steps[edit | edit source]

After evaluating community feedback and input, ICANN released a report on changes to the proposed process, as well as other updates and next steps.[23] Based on feedback from a variety of constituencies, the composition and name of the proposed steering group changed: the "coordination group" now included 2 ALAC members, 1 ASO member, 4 ccNSO members (comprised of both ccNSO member and non-member ccTLD managers), 3 (non-registry) GNSO members, 2 members from gTLD registries, 2 GAC members, 1 member from the International Chamber of Commerce/Business Action to Support the Information Society, 2 IAB members, 2 IETF members, 2 ISOC members, 2 NRO members, 2 RSSAC members, and 2 SSAC members. The board liaison and staff expert liaison brought the initial total up to 29 people on the coordination group. ICANN 50 was no longer the venue for the first meeting of the group; instead, the action items for SOs, ACs, and other bodies appointing members "encouraged [the communities] to make their final selections by the end of the ICANN 50 meeting," with a hard deadline for submitting names by July 2, 2014. The new first meeting date was tentatively scheduled for July 16-18, 2014.[23]

There were other alterations to the proposed process, including the addition of "diversity" to the list of defining principles, and a provision that in the event there was not full consensus on an issue, dissenting opinions should be documented during the process. There were no alterations to the scope of the development process.[23]

According to an article authored by Larry Strickling on August 17, 2015, NTIA's Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator, the IANA Transition, which was set to begin September 30, 2015 will not be complete until September 30, 2016. The organization believes that while ICANN has made tremendous strides in its transition, it still has more work to accomplish. [24]

Activity and Changes at ICANN 50[edit | edit source]

ICANN 50, like the meeting before it, contained a great deal of presentation content and community discussion around the IANA Transition and the interrelated issues of governance and accountability.[25] In the lead-up to the main program, both ATLAS II sessions, as well as sessions facilitated by the NCUC, addressed topics of governance and the multistakeholder model.

At the Welcome Ceremony and President's Opening, Fadi Chehade and others emphasized both the importance of the scale and scope of interactions around transition planning, as well as the distinct tracks of conversation that would occur at the conference.[26] The opening session was followed by a high-level government meeting covering the IANA transition, the outcomes from the NetMundial conference, and other governance topics.[27] The meeting featured Larry Strickling and Theresa Swinehart providing a summary of the IANA transition and the NTIA's decision to transition stewardship to the global community.[28] Similarly, at a session on Internet governance, both the NTIA announcement and multistakeholder accountability more broadly were topics in the course of a broader conversation about governance and civil society issues.[29]

On June 26, two sessions were held that directly addressed the twin issues of transition planning[30] and enhancing ICANN's accountability.[31] The IANA Transition meeting featured a presentation on the planning process to date and lessons learned, both from the planning process, and other projects in the history of ICANN.[32] The majority of the time was devoted to public comment. The session on ICANN accountability featured a presentation by Professor Jan Aart Scholte of the University of Gothenburg, who broke down the notion of accountability as it relates to a private organization with a public purpose.[33]

Also at ICANN 50, the GAC made it known that they would prefer to have five seats on the Coordination Group (ICG), rather than two. The GAC subsequently submitted five names for the ICG. In the lead-up to the first in-person meeting of the ICG, the group decided in a preliminary call that the topic of expanding GAC representation, as well as a more general discussion regarding whether the composition of the ICG was fit for purpose, would be added to the agenda of the first meeting.[34]

IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG)[edit | edit source]

Coordination Group Members[edit | edit source]

The Coordination Group was formed by the ICANN community via nominations from 13 community groups, along with an ICANN Board Liaison and an ICANN staff expert, totaling 31 individuals:

Launch and Initial Work Items[edit | edit source]

The ICG held its first meeting in London on July 17 and 18, 2014.[35] During the introductory session of the meeting, Heather Dryden explained the GAC's reasoning for submitting five nominees to the ICG:

The five nominees that the GAC has identified or put forward to participate are formed within the GAC as what we are calling a content group. So that's also including the vice chairs in addition to those nominees. And the idea is so the vice chairs and the nominees support the chair of the GAC and to coordinate communication to and from the broader GAC membership. The emphasis here is not on advancing individual country perspectives.[36]

During discussions at the first day of the meeting, it was agreed that the CG would welcome all five of the GAC appointees, bringing the grand total of seats to 29 members appointed from the stakeholder communities.[36] Alissa Cooper was nominated as the interim chair, pending a final decision on the organization of the ICG and it leadership team.[37] The group also created a draft charter for public comment[38], as well as issuing its first statement to the community regarding its progress at the meeting and the work to come.[39]

In teleconference meetings following the first in-person meeting, Patrik_Fältström and Mohamed El Bashir were named vice chairs.

Meeting at IGF 2014[edit | edit source]

The ICG's next in-person meeting was at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Istanbul in September 2014.[35] The group finalized its request for proposals (RFP) to the three "operational communities" - "those with direct operational or service relationships with the IANA functions operator, in connection with names, numbers, or protocol parameters" - for proposals for the transition of the IANA functions stewardship. The RFP specified that proposals should:

  • be complete and formal;
  • be developed through a transparent and open process, engaging all interested parties within each operational community on all points of substance;
  • include details regarding the operational community's relationship to IANA, existing arrangements regarding the IANA functions, proposed oversight and accountability mechanisms post-transition, implications of the transition (logistics, risks to continuity, etc.), and a section describing the proposal's accommodation of the NTIA's requirements for transition proposals.[40]

The meeting also focused on the project timeline, as well as the methods by which the group would determine consensus.[41] The resulting "ICG Guidelines for Decision Making" was published by the group in mid-September 2014.[42]

ICANN 53 Announcement[edit | edit source]

At the ICANN 53 Welcome Session, June 22 2015, CEO & President, Fadi Chehadé presented his keynote speech which focused on the IANA Transition and its progress. In his opening remarks, Chehadé outlined three important areas of focus: 1. Strengthening ICANN and preparing it for the transition, 2. Fortifying community support, and 3. Reinforcing bonds with ICANN's technical community.[43]

These three goals are integral to the much larger transition process. The President then went on to describe the necessary timeline of activities prior to the transition. Phase One includes Cross-Community and Board preparation of a proposal and adoption of NTIA's requested bylaw amendments. Phase Two, according to NTIA's Larry Strickling, will last anywhere between four to five months, which include a period of review between the United State's government and members of ICANN's community. Strickling would then assess whether the proposal meets the criteria set by the NTIA and has adopted all necessary bylaws. After the NTIA delivers a certification letter to congrees, the governmental branch has 30 legislative days to review the proposal. Once the review of the proposal is complete, the implementation and full transfer of stewardship takes place. [44]

Legal roadblock[edit | edit source]

On the 4th December 2014, a large federal funding bill for over $1 trillion passed the United States House of Representatives to which Republicans had attached a rider defunding any attempt by the NTIA to transfer its functions before October 2015. The global internet community reacted with "a combination of weariness and growing cynicism about the United States and its role in Internet governance."[45]

Videos[edit | edit source]

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References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ NTIA.gov - NTIA Announces Intent to Transition Key Internet Domain Name Functions, March 14, 2014
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Internet Society - IANA Timeline
  3. ↑ Press Release March 14, 2014
  4. ↑ ICANN 49 Archive - Full Schedule, March 21-27, 2014
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 ICANN.org Listserv Archive - IANA Transition, 2014-2017
  6. ↑ ICANN 49 Archive - NCUC Conference on Internet Governance - the Road to Sao Paolo and Beyond, March 21, 2014
  7. ↑ Netmundial.br Archive - Netmundial Conference, April 23-24, 2014
  8. ↑ ICANN 49 Archive - NCUC Morning Transcript, March 21, 2014
  9. ↑ ICANN 49 Archive - Transcript, NCUC Keynote Assessment, March 21, 2014
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 ICANN 49 Archive - Transcript, Welcome Ceremony & President's Welcome, March 24, 2014
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 ICANN 49 Archive - IANA Accountability Transition, March 24, 2014
  12. ↑ ICANN 49 Archive - Presentation deck, IANA Accountability Transition, March 24, 2014
  13. ↑ ICANN 49 Archive - ICANN Accountability, March 24, 2014
  14. ↑ ICANN 49 Archive - Presentation Deck, AoC Accountability, March 24, 2014
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 ICANN 49 Archive - Transcript, ICANN Accountability & the AoC, March 24, 2014
  16. ↑ ICANN 49 Archive - Strategy Panels and the Planning Process, March 24, 2014
  17. ↑ ICANN 49 Archive - Update on Internet Governance, March 26, 2014
  18. ↑ ICANN 49 Archive - Transcript, Public Forum, March 27, 20174
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 ICANN.org Archive - Draft Proposal of the Principles, Mechanisms, and Process to Develop a Proposal for the IANA Transition, April 8, 2014
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 IANA Transition Scoping Document, April 8, 2014 (PDF)
  21. ↑ ICANN.org Blog - Training Wheels Off, April 11, 2014
  22. ↑ Google Docs - Transition Proposal Scoping Document, last modified April 10, 2014
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 ICANN.org - IANA Transition: Process and Next Steps, June 6, 2014
  24. ↑ [1] An Update on the IANA Transition. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  25. ↑ ICANN 50 Archive - Full Schedule, June 19-26, 2014
  26. ↑ ICANN 50 Archive - Transcript, Welcome Ceremony and President's Opening, June 23, 2014
  27. ↑ ICANN 50 Archive - Agenda, High-Level Government Meeting, June 23, 2014
  28. ↑ ICANN 50 Archive - Transcript, High-Level Government Meeting, June 23, 2014
  29. ↑ ICANN 50 Archive - Transcript, Internet Governance, July 25, 2014
  30. ↑ ICANN 50 Archive - Transition of NTIA's Stewardship of the IANA Functions, June 26, 2014
  31. ↑ ICANN 50 Archive - Enhancing ICANN's Accountability, June 26, 2014
  32. ↑ ICANN 50 Archive - Presentation Deck, IANA Stewardship Transition, June 26, 2014
  33. ↑ ICANN 50 Archive - Presentation Deck, Enhancing ICANN Accountability, June 26, 2014
  34. ↑ ICANN.org Archive - Transcript - ICG Call #1, July 10, 2014
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 ICANN.org - ICG Meetings Archive, last updated March 1, 2016
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 ICANN.org Archive - Transcript, ICG Meeting #1 (Day 1), July 17, 2014
  37. ↑ ICANN Archive - Transcript, ICG Meeting #1 (Day 2), July 18, 2014
  38. ↑ ICG Archive - Draft Charter, July 17, 2014
  39. ↑ ICANN.org Archive - Statement from the First Meeting of the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group, July 18, 2018
  40. ↑ IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group - Request for Proposals, September 8, 2014
  41. ↑ ICG Meeting Archive - Transcript, ICG Meeting #2 (Istanbul), September 6, 2014
  42. ↑ ICANN.org Archive - ICG Guidelines for Decision Making, September 17, 2014
  43. ↑ https://buenosaires53.icann.org/en/schedule/mon-welcome
  44. ↑ ICANN President at ICANN 53, retrieved 07 Oct 2015
  45. ↑ Congress defunds IANA transitionRetrieved 15th December 2014.

Generic Names Supporting Organization. Develops and recommends to the Board substantive policies relating to generic top-level domains and other responsibilities set forth in the Bylaws (ICANN Bylaws).

Address Supporting Organization. Advises the Board with respect to policy issues relating to the operation, assignment, and management of Internet addresses (ICANN Bylaws).

Country Code Names Supporting Organization. Develops and recommends to the Board global policies relating to country-code top-level domains (ICANN Bylaws).

At-Large Advisory Committee. Considers and provides advice on the activities of ICANN related to the interests of individual Internet users (ICANN Bylaws). Not to be confused with the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group.

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