Experts: ICANN still needs Hill oversight

Intellectual property lobbyist Steven Metalitz urged lawmakers at a Capitol Hill briefing to monitor the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and weigh in "if something goes wrong with the plumbing." The pact between the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and ICANN, which replaces a multiyear contract that expired Wednesday, requires a vetting of concerns about a plan to bring to market potentially hundreds of new domain names. The NTIA-ICANN accord sets up a review panel to ensure the continuance of a public database of Web site owners that is regularly used by law enforcement. Brenden Kuerbis of Syracuse University's Internet Governance Project warned the agreement contains design flaws. The review panels that it creates could add "another layer of politics and second guessing ... on what is already a messy and pretty diffuse process," he said. He also warned the "top-down" appointment of experts to serve on the panels could short-circuit ICANN's bottom-up governance mandate.