Remarks by NTIA Assistant Secretary Strickling on DNS Transition

This year promises to be another critical year for Internet governance, centering in part on efforts to complete the privatization of the Internet domain name system, currently managed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

I have consistently answered that we are looking for a plan that preserves ICANN as a multistakeholder organization outside of government control which the community develops through an open and transparent multistakeholder process and that has the broad support of stakeholders. In addition, the proposal must maintain the security, stability, and resiliency of the domain name system. The proposal must meet the needs and expectations of the global customers and partners of the IANA services. And finally, it must maintain the openness of the Internet. I want to reiterate again that there is no hard and fast deadline for this transition. September 2015 has been a target date because that is when the base period of our contract with ICANN expires. It is up to the community to determine a timeline that works best for stakeholders as they develop a proposal that meets NTIA’s conditions, but also works.