First IANA Hearing in 114th Congress Expected to Show Lawmakers' Level of Involvement
Assessment of the knowledge of and engagement with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition by Senate Commerce Committee members is likely to produce the substance of Wednesday’s related hearing, Internet governance experts said in interviews. Some experts told us that Congress should be wary of becoming too involved in the IANA transition; others said more hearings with ICANN stakeholders -- rather than ICANN and NTIA’s leadership -- should follow. Scheduled to testify at the hearing are ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade, NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling and attorney David Gross of Wiley Rein on behalf of the Internet Governance Coalition (IGC) (see 1502230048).
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Gross told us he expects committee members to be “engaged and informed”; they’ll want to be updated on “where we are in the process and where it’s leading.” The IGC, which includes Amazon, Google and Verizon as members, is watching the transition “like hawks,” he said. IGC members are committed to NTIA’s four criteria for the transition, plus its stipulation that the IANA functions not be handed over to an intergovernmental organization, Gross said. IGC’s “operating assumption” is that the ICANN and its community’s “deeds” are matching its “rhetoric and words,” he said. If the IGC sees “any shortcuts or failure to meet that test, our interests are clear to alert everyone to that,” Gross said.
IANA is a “technical function,” and it shouldn’t be used as a “proxy fight or for other political agendas,” said Shane Tews, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute’s Center for Internet, Communications and Technology Policy. It’s “fair” for Congress to ask questions, but “maybe at the end of the day, it’s probably better for less government involvement,” she said. However, for someone like committee member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the hearing is a “golden opportunity … to wrap yourself in the American flag” and a “good opportunity for air play,” Tews said. Cruz sought to prohibit NTIA from using its funds on the transition last year with an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations bill FY 2015 (HR-4660) (see 1406230083). Several committee members and staff have “taken the time to understand the issue,” but Cruz is going to be “as much of a challenge as someone in a far-off land who doesn’t want the Internet to exist,” Tews said. Cruz didn't comment.
Domestic politics in the U.S. is “beginning to have an impact” on issues like IANA that are “bigger than any pissing match between Republicans and Democrats,” said Michele Neylon, managing director of Blacknight, an Ireland-based domain registrar. He cited as an example Congress’ recent spending measure that prohibits NTIA from using its funds on the transition through Sept. 30. On a “high level,” the Senate hearings are “fully understandable,” Neylon said. It’s “perfectly normal” that the federal government would want to hold ICANN accountable, he said. But it's “going to be a problem” if Congress is going to have a “hissy fit” and not allow the transition to proceed, Neylon said. Suggestions by some on the “right wing” that the U.S. “owns the Internet” are “probably quite offensive to the international community.”
“I expect Chairman [John] Thune [(R-S.D.)] to assert that Congress has an important role to play in reviewing and being comfortable with any proposed IANA transition and ICANN accountability plan submitted to the NTIA,” said Phil Corwin, principal of e-commerce and intellectual property law consultancy Virtualaw. Chehade’s and Strickling’s remarks aren’t likely to be surprising, so the “interest will be in what detailed questions they are asked and what their responses are,” he emailed. Corwin said one question could be whether NTIA is considering a change in the IANA contract that “would permit a contract extension of less than two years,” since it’s “clear” the transition won’t be completed by Sept. 30.
The tentative Sept. 30 deadline for the transition is “in essence, irrelevant,” Gross said. “What’s relevant is getting the job done correctly.” Gross said he expects that extending the deadline would be a “relatively easy fix,” but noted that the transition isn’t just about its completion and acceptance by NTIA: It’s also about “implementation,” which Strickling underscored at ICANN 52 in Singapore.
Thune is likely to “press the witnesses to acknowledge that ICANN ‘The Corporation’ has distinct interests from the broader community that ICANN was designed to serve,” NetChoice Executive Director Steve DelBianco emailed. “That distinction is driving the new accountability measures the community is developing to challenge decisions made by ICANN’s board and management.”
There should be follow-up hearings to allow ICANN stakeholders to be “heard on where the process stands and what they are aiming for,” Corwin said. He said he wasn’t sure if the committee members are “sufficiently well versed in the nuanced details of what new measures are being explored” for the transition. That’s “precisely why a hearing featuring testimony from stakeholders actively engaged in designing the accountability measures would be useful.”