WASHINGTON, DC: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers made its presentation on the Midterm Review of the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) between itself and the United States Department of Commerce at a public meeting held today in Washington, DC.
"I think that after almost 10 years of experience of this model the question before us is very stark: Are we going to complete the White Paper's vision of private sector management of the Internet's system of unique identifiers? I believe the overwhelming view from virtually all participants is that transition is the goal and the interest is in settling how we get there," ICANN Chair Peter Dengate Thrush said.
Today's public meeting was held to discuss the written submissions that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration had received during its recently concluded public comment period on the JPA between the U.S. Department of Commerce and ICANN. The JPA was signed in September 2006, is due to conclude in September 2009 and was scheduled for a Midterm Review at this point.
In his presentation the Chairman said he would ask the President's Strategy Committee to outline a plan for developing this transition framework. They will meet in April and make a first presentation involving the community, starting a process for further engagement with the community at the ICANN meeting in Paris in June. The process will be guided by the input ICANN has received so far from its own consultations, and the analysis of the comments surveyed in this Review.
"The U.S. government has been and remains a staunch advocate for an Internet that is based on values of freedom, enterprise and crucially coordination — not control. Now, there are final steps to be taken to make this a reality and to celebrate an enlightened U.S. policy under two administrations to transition to private sector management of the domain name system.
"We all now need to work together over the 18 months remaining in the JPA to finalize the model for the long term," Dengate Thrush said.
The complete statement to the public meeting is available on the ICANN website in plain text and as a pdf file.
(Address in plain text: http://www.icann.org/jpa/chairman-address.html | Address as pdf file: http://www.icann.org/jpa/presentation-to-jpa-midterm-review-public-meeting-28feb08.pdf )
About ICANN:
ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet's system of unique identifiers like domain names (like .org, .museum and country codes like .uk) and the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols that help computers reach each other over the Internet. Careful management of these resources is vital to the Internet's operation, so ICANN's global stakeholders meet regularly to develop policies that ensure the Internet's ongoing security and stability. ICANN is an internationally organized, public benefit non-profit company. For more information please visit: www.icann.org .
Media Contacts:
Jason Keenan
Media Adviser, ICANN
Ph: +1 310 382 4004
E: jason.keenan@icann.org
International: Andrew Robertson
Edelman (London)
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E: andrew.robertson@edelman.com