ICANN Welcomes Positive Report from U.S. General Accounting Office

(July 7, 2000) The Internet Corporationfor Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) welcomed today's releaseof a report by theUnited States General Accounting Office that confirms thelegality and propriety of ICANN's formation and its relationshipwith the U.S. Department of Commerce.

"After an exhaustive study and carefullegal analysis, the GAO has concluded that ICANN's project partnershipwith the U.S. government rests on a strong and secure legal foundation,"said ICANN President and CEO Mike Roberts. "We welcome itsfindings, which are consistent with the actions ICANN has takenover the past year and a half."

"It's nice to see some independent,authoritative validation of ICANN's sound legal footing,"said Esther Dyson, chairman of ICANN's board of directors. "Thechallenge for all those involved in the ICANN process is to buildon that foundation. ICANN is a platform for the Net's diversecommunities fo work together to develop policies for themselvesin a structure that is stable, open, transparent, and consensus-based."

The GeneralAccounting Office is the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress.

Also today, ICANN released its second statusreport to the U.S. Department of Commerce, available on the ICANNwebsite at
<https://www.icann.org/general/statusreport-30jun00.htm>.The status report outlines ICANN's progress toward meeting thegoals defined in the joint memorandum of understanding betweenthe Department of Commerce and ICANN, and spells out the nextsteps to complete the transition to private-sector technicalmanagement of the Internet's naming and numbering systems.

About ICANN

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Namesand Numbers (ICANN) is a technical coordination body for theInternet. Created in October 1998 by a broad coalition of theInternet's business, technical, academic, and user communities,ICANN is assuming responsibility for a set of technical functionspreviously performed under U.S. government contract by IANA andother groups.

Specifically, ICANN coordinates the assignmentof the following identifiers that must be globally unique forthe Internet to function:

• Internet domain names
• IP address numbers
• protocol parameter and port numbers

In addition, ICANN coordinates the stableoperation of the Internet's root server system.

As a non-profit, private-sector corporation,ICANN is dedicated to preserving the operational stability ofthe Internet; to promoting competition; to achieving broad representationof global Internet communities; and to developing policy throughprivate-sector, bottom-up, consensus-based means. ICANN welcomesthe participation of any interested Internet user, business,or organization. See http://www.icann.org.