ICANN transition plan needs new ideas to ensure accountability

[Commentary] The US government announced earlier this year that it would give up its historic oversight of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the principal organization responsible for managing the Internet's domain name system. Since then, ICANN has launched a series of parallel processes to develop a proposal for the transition and establish accountability mechanisms to protect the organization from corruption and malfeasance.

Although the National Telecommunications and Information Administration originally planned to transition control to ICANN by September 2015, this deadline looks increasingly unlikely as stakeholders struggle to find a workable proposal. One particularly thorny issue in this process has been the question of how to replace the unique role the US government has played in protecting ICANN from both internal and external threats, such as capture by government, capture by private-sector interests, improper management and internal self-dealing. Without the US government involved, the Internet community needs to find another check on the ICANN board to ensure its long-term accountability and legitimacy.

[Daniel Castro is a senior analyst with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation]