[governance] Re: [bestbits] NTIA announcment

[Anriette Esterhuysen]

Here is a version that could be used as a basis for the Best Bits
statement. I added a note about this being 'just one' step towards more
inclusive and accountable governance, even if a significant step.

Personally I think that the really interesting, but also challenging
outcome of this is that it means we need to rethink the NetMundial
Agenda and what we really want to get out of it.

What is so good though is that the conversation with governments, and
private institutions, the technical community etc. can now focus on the
substance of how decisions are made, and how participation is ensured,
and accountability and transparency maintained, and what principles are
used in making these decisions.

The location of ICANN in the US and the relationship with the US has
been a bottleneck in talking about 'enhanced coopration' etc. etc.  This
is not going to make it easier.

The challenge of dealing with governments who desire more control, and
those nongovernmental institutions involved in inernet governance who
are not sufficiently accountable, and not operating based on commonly
understood public interest and rights-based principles, remain.. and is
even greater actually. And a further challenge will be to ensure that
ICANN, while I think has been positively proactive, and in some senses
opportunistic (which is not a bad thing) since the NSA revelation, does
not, riding on increased legitimacy, unduly expand its scope, reach, power.

Anriette


*DRAFT Best Bits welcomes NTIA announcement on transition of key
internet domain name functions*

Members of the Best Bits coalition welcome the announcement made by the
United States Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA) of its ‘intent to transition key
internet domain name functions to the global multi-stakeholder community
<http://www.ntia.doc.gov/press-release/2014/ntia-announces-intent-transition-key-internet-domain-name-functions>.'**

NTIA’s responsibility under current agreements means it has served as
the “historic steward” of the DNS (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.

We commend the NTIA 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.

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.

We recommend that ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers), to which the NTIA 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 ICANN 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 ‒ www.netmundial.br
<http://www.netmundial.br/> ‒ to be held in Brazil in late April 2014.
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