Christian Dawson

The unexpected election of Donald Trump, along with continued Republican control of both houses of Congress will have a big impact on our US priorities. While the outlook remains unclear, we’ve prepared the memo below examining the initial impact the election may have on issues that matter to Internet infrastructure companies and organizations. President-Elect Trump has embraced a dangerous precedent that privacy and security are in conflict. The hacks on Democratic National Committee, however, likely served as a signal that all networks are vulnerable and that there is a need to use all of the tools in the cybersecurity toolkit to prevent cyber-crime. We will make sure his team understands the need for strong encryption throughout the Internet ecosystem, and that weak decisions based on poor information will have negative impacts on the Internet, innovation, and the economy as a whole.

Internet Infrastructure Coalition (i2Coaliton) Co-Founder and Board Chair Christian Dawson released the following statement in advance the DOTCOM Act markup and the upcoming House Judiciary Committee hearing examining the transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) function to the global multistakeholder community:

“i2Coalition has the confidence necessary to endorse and support the dialogue his team is fostering to drive towards a transition of the IANA function to the global multistakeholder community, which will only happen if important qualifications are met.

"i2Coalition supports those who build the nuts and bolts of the Internet, and seeks to foster growth within the Internet infrastructure industry by driving others to harness the Internet’s full potential. We work to promote policies that foster continued development and expansion of Internet business.

"The most crucial of these policies is a continued commitment to Internet governance that takes into account the viewpoints of all Internet stakeholders. This commitment is often referred to as the ‘multistakeholder’ model of Internet governance. Nobody owns or controls the Internet; it is governed by a series of multistakeholder bodies.

"The Internet was created from the bottom up, collaboratively. These processes continue today in a variety of areas: people discussing Internet standards, naming and numbering policies, peering and interconnection and many other technical and administrative issues. One such administrative function is the IANA function, which in practice is a clerical role on the Internet.

"This administrative role, which in no way constitutes ‘control of the Internet’, is a comfort to some and a sign of United States hegemony to others. While we believe in the success of the multistakeholder model of Internet governance, we see increasing calls for change. Those calling for change appear to seek to replace this governance structure with one favoring a top down regulatory approach in which governmental entities, or quasi-governmental entities, dictate rules, regulations and technical standards. Anything that abandons the multistakeholder model of Internet governance can lead to a fractured global Internet, a curbing of economic growth, and a real risk of curbing of free speech throughout much of the world.”

The Internet is under constant attack from cybercrimes like piracy, child pornography, and fraud to just name a few.

The Internet infrastructure industry is at the forefront in fighting crime on the Internet and continues to create standards to protect Internet users from exploitation. The top goal of our new Best Practices Initiative is to showcase how the global Internet infrastructure community is actively working on a continuous basis to make the Internet a better place than it was the day before.

The goal for our Best Practices Initiative is to develop a wide framework focusing on partnering and coordinating with other organizations that center around building a better, safer Internet. We plan to underscore the work of these various multi-stakeholder groups in strengthening safety on the Internet to ensure further global growth.

[Commentary] I love the Internet industry, because what we do is important. Our customers build their dreams atop our infrastructure, and their dreams are literally changing the world -- for the better, in my view.

It’s not enough for companies like ours to fight regulation of our industry. It’s important we do that, because doing so keeps the Internet free and open, drives innovation and keeps costs low and options high for our customers. But we need to walk the walk on solving the hard problems of the Internet if we are to prove ourselves responsible netizens capable of self-policing.

The Internet ecosystem, which includes providers like us and all kinds of other groups, needs to prove that it can self-police if it wants to maintain control of its own destiny.