IANA Transition

The IANA stewardship transition completed on 30 September 2016 fulfilled a vision of multistakeholder governance set forth nearly 20 years ago. The work undertaken by the global Internet community to develop a robust, consensus proposal for the IANA stewardship transition demonstrated the legitimacy of the collaborative approach to governing critical Internet resources. By allowing its contract with ICANN regarding IANA oversight to expire, the U.S. government demonstrated its continued support for the multistakeholder model. The IANA transition is a powerful illustration of the multistakeholder model and an affirmation of the principle that the best approach to address challenges is through bottom-up, transparent, and consensus-driven processes. To fulfill our shared vision of a global Internet of opportunity, the multistakeholder community must apply the same level of commitment to connecting the unconnected and strengthening global trust in the Internet. The Internet Society is fully committed to playing its part to ensure the Internet grows as a platform for innovation and collaboration.

Read about all the supporters who said #yestoIANA.

Background on IANA

The IANA functions have historically included:

• The coordination of the assignment of technical Internet protocol parameters;
• The administration of certain responsibilities associated with Internet DNS root zone management;
• The allocation of Internet numbering resources;
• Other services related to the management of .ARPA and .INT top-level domains.

To learn more about the IANA functions, please see:

• A history of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
• IANA Fundamentals: The Basics
• Who Makes the Internet Work: The Internet Ecosystem
• Understanding the IANA Functions

Statements by the Internet Society

• • 1 October 2016 – Internet Society congratulates global Internet community on successful IANA stewardship transition.
  • 30 September 2016 – Internet Society and other organizations file amicus brief in lawsuit filed by four US states arguing that the lawsuit should be denied and the transition allowed to proceed.
  • 22 September 2016 – Internet Society President & CEO Kathy Brown publishes a note applauding the US Senate for saying #yestoIANA.
  • 14 September 2016 – the Internet Society launches the “America Keeps Its Promises: #yestoIANA” page and social media campaign.
  • 12 September 2016 – Internet Society President and CEO Kathryn Brown sends letter urging US Congress to allow the transition to proceed without delay.
  • 9 September 2016 – TheHill.com publishes OpEd “Inaccurate rhetoric must not short-circuit internet transition” by Kathryn Brown
  • 24 May 2016 – The Internet Society issued a statement of support for the IANA Stewardship Transition after a hearing before a US Senate committee.
  • 17 March 2016 – Sally Wentworth testified before a US Congressional Subcommittee in a hearing on “Privatizing the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority” – Read the testimony from Sally Wentworth.
  • 14 March 2016 – Blog post from Kathy Brown: A note to the ISOC Community: Marking our success, building on IANA momentum to keep Internet on track
  • 10 March 2016 – Blog post, video: ISOC President & CEO Kathy Brown delivers statement on IANA in Public Forum at ICANN 55
  • 10 March 2016 – ISOC Board of Trustees Statement: Internet Society Applauds Community-Developed Plan to Transition Oversight of Key Internet Functions
  • October 2015 – With ICANN 54 underway in Dublin, Internet Society President and CEO Kathy Brown wrote about the current status of discussions.
  • September 2015 – As part of the public comment period on the ICG proposal, we submitted these comments: Internet Society Comments on the IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal (see also this blog post from Kathy Brown)
  • July 2015 – Perspectives on the IANA Stewardship Transition Principles (see also this blog post from Sally Wentworth)

History

Since 1999 the IANA functions have been contracted to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) by the US National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA). The NTIA has retained an oversight component with regard to the management of the Internet’s DNS root zone and is now seeking to transition that responsibility to the global multistakeholder community.

NTIA’s announcement on 14 March 2014 outlines the conditions under which a transfer can occur and called upon ICANN to convene global stakeholders to develop a proposal for this transition.  NTIA asked ICANN work collaboratively with the directly affected parties, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), the Internet Society (ISOC), the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), top level domain name operators, VeriSign, and other interested global stakeholders.

Given that the NTIA Statement identified the Internet Society as one of the parties that were expected to contribute to the process, ISOC has elected:

• Internet Society Board of Trustees member Narelle Clark; and
• Internet Hall of Fame inductee Demi Getscko

as its representatives to the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG).

More information about the current activities and transition status can be found at:

• IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG)

View our webinar

In early 2015, the Internet Society hosted a webinar on the progress of the IANA transition.

You can listen to it here:

 You can watch it here:

Related links

• https://www.iana.org
• https://www.ianacg.org
• https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/ianaplan/charter/
• https://www.nro.net/nro-and-internet-governance/iana-oversight/consolidated-rir-iana-stewardship-proposal-team-crisp-team
• https://community.icann.org/display/gnsocwgdtstwrdshp/CWG+to+Develop+an+IANA+Stewardship+Transition+Proposal+on+Naming+Related+Functions
• https://www.internetsociety.org/doc/perspectives-iana-stewardship-transition-principles
• https://www.internetsociety.org/news/internet-society-applauds-community-developed-plan-transition-oversight-key-internet-resources