<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">On 16 Mar 2014, at 3:02 am, Anriette Esterhuysen <<a href="mailto:anriette@apc.org">anriette@apc.org</a>> wrote:<br><div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">
<meta content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"><strong>DRAFT Best Bits welcomes <span class="caps">NTIA</span>
announcement on transition of key internet domain name functions</strong><br>
<br>
Members of the Best Bits coalition welcome the announcement made by
the United States Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications
and Information Administration (<span class="caps">NTIA</span>) of
its ‘intent to transition key internet domain name functions to the
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.ntia.doc.gov/press-release/2014/ntia-announces-intent-transition-key-internet-domain-name-functions">global
multi-stakeholder community</a>.'<strong></strong><br>
<br>
NTIA’s responsibility under current agreements means it has served
as the “historic steward” of the <span class="caps">DNS</span>
(internet domain name system). The fact that a single government
currently plays this role, even if it has not been a particularly
“hands-on” role, has been cause for concern and debate among
governments and other stakeholders for more than a decade.<br>
<br>
We commend the <span class="caps">NTIA</span> for committing to the
transition to a multi-stakeholder process that needs full
involvement of civil society, governments, business and the internet
technical community (to mention just some of the current
stakeholders affected by internet decision making) and for requiring
that the resulting transition plan maintains the openness of the
internet.<br>
<br>
This is however not trivial, as mechanisms for democratising
internet governance, and ensuring really effective and inclusive
participation of all who are affected by internet policy making and
standard setting are still evolving. A transition away from US
government oversight does not in itself guarantee inclusion,
transparency and accountability or protection of the public interest
in the management of DNS and the root zone. Nevertheless, this is a
very constructive step, definitely in the right direction, and a
unique opportunity to make progress in the evolution of the internet
governance ecosystem. This is particularly important for
stakeholders from developing countries.<br>
<br>
We recommend that <span class="caps">ICANN</span> (the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), to which the <span class="caps">NTIA</span> is entrusting the development of the
transition plan, look beyond its own internal multi-stakeholder
processes in bringing together the larger community for the
necessary consultations on how this transition should be undertaken.
We also recommend that <span class="caps">ICANN</span> consider the
submissions about how this transition can take place that were made
to the upcoming NetMundial: Global Meeting on the Future of Internet
Governance ‒ <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.netmundial.br/" title="www.netmundial.br">www.netmundial.br</a>
‒ to be held in Brazil in late April 2014.
</div></blockquote><br></div><div>I support us releasing this statement for sign-on, and can have it online in the next few hours, after leaving some more time for any amendments to be suggested. Please follow up by 12pm Sunday GMT/UTC with any amendments if you can (ie. about 10 hours from now). Thanks Anriette.</div><br><div apple-content-edited="true">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><div style="font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div>--</div><div>Jeremy Malcolm PhD LLB (Hons) B Com</div><div>Internet lawyer, ICT policy advocate, geek</div><div>host -t NAPTR 5.9.8.5.2.8.2.2.1.0.6.<a href="http://e164.org">e164.org</a>|awk -F! '{print $3}'</div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div>WARNING: This email has not been encrypted. You are strongly recommended to enable encryption at your end. For instructions, see <a href="http://jere.my/l/pgp">http://jere.my/l/pgp</a>.</span></div></div></div></div></div>
</div>
<br></body></html>