ICANN Makes Presentation to Department of Commerce Midterm [...]

WASHINGTON, DC: The Internet Corporationfor Assigned Names and Numbers made its presentation on the Midterm Reviewof the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) between itself and the United States Departmentof Commerce at a public meeting held today in Washington, DC.

"I think that after almost 10 years of experience of this model thequestion before us is very stark: Are we going to complete the White Paper'svision of private sector management of the Internet's system of unique identifiers?I believe the overwhelming view from virtually all participants is that transitionis the goal and the interest is in settling how we get there," ICANN ChairPeter Dengate Thrush said.

Today's public meeting was held to discuss the written submissions that theNational Telecommunications and Information Administration had received duringits recently concluded public comment period on the JPA between the U.S. Departmentof Commerce and ICANN. The JPA was signed in September 2006, is due to concludein September 2009 and was scheduled for a Midterm Review at this point.

In his presentation the Chairman said he would ask the President's StrategyCommittee to outline a plan for developing this transition framework. Theywill meet in April and make a first presentation involving the community, startinga process for further engagement with the community at the ICANN meeting inParis in June. The process will be guided by the input ICANN has received sofar from its own consultations, and the analysis of the comments surveyed inthis Review.

"The U.S. government has been and remains a staunch advocate for anInternet that is based on values of freedom, enterprise and crucially coordination-  not control. Now, there are final steps to be taken to make thisa reality and to celebrate an enlightened U.S. policy under two administrationsto transition to private sector management of the domain name system.

"We all now need to work together over the 18 months remaining in theJPA to finalize the model for the long term," Dengate Thrush said.

The complete statement to the public meeting is available on the ICANN websitein plain text and as a pdf file.

(Address in plain text: https://www.icann.org/jpa/chairman-address.html | Address as pdf file: https://www.icann.org/jpa/presentation-to-jpa-midterm-review-public-meeting-28feb08.pdf )

About ICANN:

ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet's systemof unique identifiers like domain names (like .org, .museum and country codeslike .uk) and the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols that helpcomputers reach each other over the Internet. Careful management of these resourcesis vital to the Internet's operation, so ICANN's global stakeholders meet regularlyto develop policies that ensure the Internet's ongoing security and stability.ICANN is an internationally organized, public benefit non-profit company. Formore information please visit: www.icann.org .

Media Contacts:

Jason Keenan
Media Adviser, ICANN
Ph: +1 310 382 4004
E: jason.keenan@icann.org

International: Andrew Robertson
Edelman (London)
Ph: +44 7921 588 770
E: andrew.robertson@edelman.com