I also support this statement. Nicolas On 2014-03-16 9:52 PM, Rafik Dammak wrote: > > Hi Everyone, > > (cc NCSG-PC) > > Milton volunteered and drafted this statement regarding the NTIA > announcement. we should be able to discuss (commenting here > https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VAkGj39ou5YkypFt0Vwqvyd1FTK31Ojm29s_gX-Ugrw/edit?usp=sharing > ) and endorse it asap before Singapore meeting to show support and > indicate our initial positions . > > Best Regards, > > Rafik > > > ----------statement---------------- > > NCSG Statement on the globalization of the IANA functions > > The Noncommercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) welcomes the 13 March 2014 > statement from the U.S. Commerce Department announcing its intention > to “transition key Internet domain name functions to the global > multistakeholder community.” We support this move because an Internet > governance regime that gives one national government exclusive powers > over a global resource is bound to be politically biased, divisive and > promote tendencies toward Internet fragmentation. This change is long > overdue. > > NCSG supports all 5 of the principles NTIA proposed to guide the > transition. We agree that the transition should: > > • Support and enhance the multistakeholder model; > > • Maintain the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet DNS; > > • Meet the needs and expectation of the global customers and partners > of the IANA services; > > • Maintain the openness of the Internet; > > • Not replace the NTIA role with a government-led or an > inter-governmental organization. > > It is very important to replace the current system with a carefully > considered, well-designed alternative. We note that noncommercial > stakeholders have been leaders in developing plans for the proposed > transition. Submissions to the Netmundial conference from two NCSG > members, the Internet Governance Project and Avri Doria, have set out > specific blueprints for the transition. > > Consistent with both of these proposals, NCSG proposes an additional > principle to guide the transition. The transition should: > > • Enhance the accountability of ICANN through structural separation of > the DNS root zone management functions from ICANN’s policy making > functions > > The root zone management functions, which are currently performed by > Verisign, Inc. and IANA under contracts with the U.S. government, are > clerical, technical and operational, The policy making functions of > ICANN, on the other hand, are highly political. NCSG believes that > those two aspects of DNS governance must be kept apart, in separate > organizations. Separating them ensures that those with policy and > political objectives must win support for their ideas in a fair and > open policy development process, and cannot arbitrarily impose them > upon Internet users and service providers by virtue of their control > of the operational levers of the global domain name system. > > The existing IANA contract attempts to keep the two separate; however, > if ICANN simply absorbs the IANA and Verisign functions without any > oversight from the U.S. government, there is a danger that the two > could become integrated and intermingled in unhealthy ways. That is > why the NCSG, along with supporters from other stakeholder groups, > will insist on this new principle of separation during the transition > process. > > The Department of Commerce has asked ICANN to “conven[e] stakeholders > across the global Internet community to craft an appropriate > transition plan.” Unfortunately, ICANN’s management seems to have > interpreted this as a mandate to implement its own transition plan, in > which it would simply take over the IANA functions with no oversight. > NCSG wishes to remind ICANN that it has been charged with convening a > process, not with controlling it. The transition will not work unless > ICANN runs a truly open and deliberative process that allows the all > ideas to be considered and the best ideas to win. > > NCSG is the voice of civil society and nonprofit organizations in > ICANN’s domain name policy making organ, the Generic Names Supporting > Organization. It is composed of two constituencies, the Noncommercial > Users Constituency (http://ncuc.org) and the Non-Profit Operational > Constituencies (http://www.npoc.org) > > ----------end of statement------- > >