Incoming NTIA chief asked to keep close eye on ICANN agreement.
U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe (of the infamous “Snowe Bill” ), R-Maine, and Bill Nelson, D-Fla, are pushing for incoming National Telecommunications & Information Administration chief Larry Strickling to keep a watchful eye on ICANN, reports Nextgov.
NTIA is currently requesting comments regarding what should happen to the Joint Project Agreement between the U.S. government and ICANN that expires September 30. If NTIA wants to continue the agreement or move DNS management to another entity, it could be up for a fight. Industry watchers suggest that ICANN can simply say ‘no’, although it will likely agree to concessions for political reasons.
I’m unimpressed with part of Strickling’s response about the future of U.S. involvement with ICANN. The quote in Nextgov’s article reads:
Regardless of whether the JPA is terminated, modified or extended, it is my belief that NTIA will continue to be an active participant in ICANN by representing the United States government in ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee as well as filing comments, as needed, in ICANN’s various public consultation processes.
That’s not what I’d call an active participation. So far the Governmental Advisory Committee seems to only be able to complain about the use of geographic names in domain names. And the comment process? Nevermind.
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