In an afternoon keynote address presented to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) USA meeting (http://www.igf-usa.us/) held July 18th at Georgetown University Law School in Washington, DC, Larry Strickling, the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) at the Department of Commerce, indicated a much more favorable view of ICANN in the wake of its adoption of accountability and transparency recommendations, as well as approval of a Final Applicant Guidebook (AG) for New gTLDs at its recent Singapore meeting.
Secretary Strickling began his remarks by stating that the Internet was at a critical juncture, with the principles of an open, innovative, growing and global telecommunications medium being challenged by growing calls for direct government regulation. The Obama Administration remains committed to the multi-stakeholder governance model reflected in the workings of the Internet Society, IETF, and ICANN itself, and believes that substantial progress had been made toward strengthening that model in recent months. Noting that ICANN’s Board had adopted recommendations to assure greater transparency and accountability in Singapore, Strickling said “I’m very pleased” but urged ICANN staff to implement them “rapidly and thoroughly”. He also remarked that the process used by ICANN’s Board in approving the Final AG was worthy of note, marking its first meaningful interactions with the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) since ICANN’s inception. In his opinion, the lack of inclusion of all GAC recommendations in the Final AG was not a failure but demonstrated the strength of the multi-stakeholder model in which governments are provided a meaningful stakeholder role but do not dictate outcomes.
Also commenting on a recent OECD Internet policy meeting that took place in Paris, he noted that delegates had agreed on principles for an open and secure Internet. Noting that some nations still favored a treaty-based model for Internet governance, and that calls for this would also likely be heard at an upcoming meeting of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Strickling stated that the U.S. strongly opposes that treaty approach.
Responding to a question raised by ICA, Strickling indicated that, while there were still some concerns regarding “sensitive strings”, the AG should be regarded as basically done for the first round of gTLD applications – adding that it is not the role of any government to substitute its judgment for that of the ICANN Board.
Overall, this speech evidenced a much friendlier and more supportive tone toward ICANN that had been seen from DOC earlier this year. In that regard it echoes the GAC Communiqué issued at the close of the Singapore meeting (http://gac.icann.org/system/files/Singapore%20Communique%20-%2023%20June%202011_1.pdf) , which likewise seemed to indicate a truce in recent hostilities and a growing rapprochement between the parties.