Indeed Rafik. 

Here's a headline I honestly never thought I would see in my lifetime:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/us-to-relinquish-remaining-control-over-
the-internet/2014/03/14/0c7472d0-abb5-11e3-adbc-888c8010c799_story.html

How this sometimes spineless lame duck American  administration responds to the blowback 
will be interesting to see. A short transition period to  predate the 2016 Presidential election 
cycle is absolutely key to making this happen. I presume our more commercially minded friends 
will do their best to stall things, hoping for a more nationalist executive branch, while using the 
leverage created to extract concessions from the ongoing transition process. 




-----Original Message-----
From: Rafik Dammak <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 08:03:15 +0900
Subject: US Government Announcement about transfer IANA functions stewardship

> Hello,
> 
> quite big news happened today with the United States Government
> announcing
> its intention to transfer the "stewardship" of IANA functions to global
> internet multistakeholder community.
> 
> a consultation process to work on the transition framework  will be
> setup
> and definitely the Singapore meeting will be mostly about that.
>  a lot of work ahead!
> 
> Best,
> 
> Rafik
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: David Olive <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 2014-03-15 7:04 GMT+09:00
> Subject: [Soac-infoalert] US Government Announcement
> To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
> 
> 
>  Dear SO/AC SG Leaders:
> 
> As you may be  aware,  the United States government announced its
> intention
> to transfer its stewardship of the IANA Functions to the global
> Internet
> multistakeholder community.NTIA release is up
> http://www.ntia.doc.gov/press-release/2014/ntia-announces-intent-transi
> tion-key-internet-domain-name-functions
> 
> 
> In 1998, the year ICANN was formed, the U.S. government determined
> that, as
> the Internet continued to expand globally, stewardship of that
> technical
> role would one day become the responsibility of all Internet
> stakeholders
> representing, not just governments, but also business, non-commercial
> interests, technical and academic communities and independent Internet
> users around the world.
> 
> 
> 
> in fulfilling its contractual obligations in executing the IANA
> Functions
> since 1998, ICANN has achieved both operational excellence and
> organizational maturity. That has prompted the United States government
> to
> designate ICANN to launch a process that allows the community to design
> a
> framework for the IANA Function transition through its bottom-up,
> multistakeholder model. That will include opportunities for global
> stakeholder input, including from ICANN’s Supporting Organizations
> and
> Advisory Committees and directly-impacted parties.
> 
> 
> 
> If you are interested in becoming further involved with this community
> consultation process, please see the timeline below. I look forward to
> having your support as we move forward on this significant transitional
> process.
> 
> 
> A Saturday , March 15 webinar is planned for the Community. An
> announcement will
> be made shortly.
> 
> 
> The ICANN Release is here:
> 
> 
> *FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*
> *14 March 2014*
> 
> *Administrator of Domain Name System Launches Global Multistakeholder
> Accountability Process*
> 
> *Press Briefing Scheduled with Board Chair and CEO*
> 
> *Los Angeles, California...*The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
> and
> Numbers (ICANN) today launched a process to transition the role of the
> United States Government relating to the Internet’s unique
> identifiers
> system.
> 
> ICANN’s announcement comes on the heels of an historic announcement
> today
> by the U.S. Government stating that it is ready to transfer its
> stewardship
> of the important Internet technical functions to the global Internet
> community. The U.S. Government’s current responsibilities to be
> transitioned include the procedural role of administering changes to
> the
> Domain Name System’s (DNS) to the authoritative root zone file - the
> database containing the lists of names and addresses of all top-level
> domains – as well as serving as the historic steward of the unique
> identifiers registries for Domain names, IP addresses, and protocol
> parameters.
> 
> In doing so, the U.S. recognized ICANN’s maturation in becoming an
> effective multistakeholder organization and requested that ICANN
> convene
> the global community to develop the transition process from of the U.S.
> stewardship to a global community consensus-driven mechanism.
> 
> “We are inviting governments, the private sector, civil society, and
> other
> Internet organizations from the whole world to join us in developing
> this
> transition process,” said Fadi Chehadé, ICANN’s President and CEO.
> ”All
> stakeholders deserve a voice in the management and governance of this
> global resource as equal partners.”
> 
> Independent of the U.S. transition, the roles of the Internet technical
> organizations, including ICANN’s role as administrator of the
> Internet’s
> unique identifier system, remain unchanged. The Internet’s Unique
> Identifier functions are not apparent to most Internet users, but they
> play
> a critical role in maintaining a single, global, unified and
> interoperable
> Internet.
> 
> “Even though ICANN will continue to perform these vital technical
> functions, the U.S. has long envisioned the day when stewardship over
> them
> would be transitioned to the global community,” said Dr. Stephen D.
> Crocker, ICANN’s Board Chair. “In other words, we have all long
> known the
> destination. Now it is up to our global stakeholder community to
> determine
> the best route to get us there.”
> 
> “The global multistakeholder process is defined by inclusion, and it
> will
> take some time to make sure that we obtain all of the necessary
> inputs,”
> said Chehadé. “By the time the current contract with the U.S.
> Government
> expires in September 2015, we will have a defined and clear process for
> global multistakeholder stewardship of ICANN’s performance of these
> technical functions.”
> 
> The first community-wide dialogue about the development of the
> transitional
> process will begin March 23-27 during ICANN’s 49thPublic Meeting, in
> Singapore. All global stakeholders are welcome to participate in person
> or
> remotely.
> 
> ##
> 
> To see more about the IANA Functions survey go here:
> http://www.icann.org/en/news/press/releases/release-15jan14-en
> 
> 
> 
> *Press Briefing*
> 
> *Note:* Because of the historic nature of this announcement, *ICANN
> Board
> Chair Dr. Stephen D. Crocker* and *ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé* will make
> themselves available to answer journalists’ questions during a 1-hour
> press
> briefing.  Details are:
> 
> *Date/Time:* *Friday, 14 March 2014 at 11PM UTC / 7PM U.S. EDT*
> 
> *Telephone Access Numbers:  **International access numbers may be
> obtained
> here -* www.adigo.com/icann. *Once you have reached the conferencing
> center, dial 25594#.*
> 
> *Journalist Questions:* *Because there are likely to be many
> journalists
> joining this briefing, upon calling in, your line will be muted. If you
> have a question, please hit #3 and tell the conference operator the
> following:*
> 
>    - *Your name.*
>    - *Your news organization.*
>    - *The city and country from which you are calling.*
>    - *The conference operator will notify the moderator, who will then
>    introduce you.*
>       - *Your line will be unmuted and you may ask your question.*
> 
> *MEDIA CONTACTS:            *
> 
> Brad White
> ICANN Director of Global Media Affairs
> Washington, D.C.
> Tel. +1 (202) 570 7118
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> James Cole
> ICANN Global Media Coordinator
> Washington, D.C.
> Tel. +1 (202) 570 7139
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> Liana Teo
> ICANN Head of Communications – Asia/Pacific
> Singapore
> Tel. +65 6808 6669
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> Alexandra Dans
> ICANN Communications Manager – Latin America and the Caribbean
> Montevideo, Uruguay
> Tel. +598 2604 2222
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> 
> 
> *About ICANN: **ICANN’s mission is to ensure a stable, secure and
> unified
> global Internet. To reach another person on the Internet you have to
> type
> an address into your computer - a name or a number. That address has to
> be
> unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN coordinates
> these
> unique identifiers across the world. Without that coordination we
> wouldn't
> have one global Internet. ICANN was formed in 1998. It is a
> not-for-profit
> public-benefit corporation with participants from all over the world
> dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It
> promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet’s unique
> identifiers. ICANN doesn’t control content on the Internet. It cannot
> stop
> spam and it doesn’t deal with access to the Internet. But through its
> coordination role of the Internet’s naming system, it does have an
> important impact on the expansion and evolution of the Internet. For
> more
> information please visit: **www.icann.org* <http://www.icann.org/>*.*
> 
> 
> If you would rather not receive future communications from ICANN, let
> us
> know by clicking
> here.<http://icann.pr-optout.com/OptOut.aspx?523509x19831x99191x1x37853
> 96x24000x6&Email=david.olive%40icann.org>
> ICANN, 12025 Waterfront Drive Suite 300, Los Angeles, CA 90094-2536
> United
> States
> 
> 
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> David
> 
> 
> 
> --
> David A. Olive
> 
> *Vice President, Policy Development Support General Manager, ICANN
> Regional
> Headquarters –Istanbul*
> 
> 
> *Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) *
> *Hakki Yeten Cad. Selenium Plaza No:10/C K:5*
> *34349 Fulya, Besiktas, Istanbul, Turkey *
> 
> *Tel: +90.212.381.8727 <%2B90.212.381.8727> - Fax: +90.212.381.8731
> <%2B90.212.381.8731> - Mobile: +1. 202.341.3611 <%2B1.%20202.341.3611>*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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