The key to keeping the Internet free after the IANA transition

[Commentary] In March 2014, the Department of Commerce announced its intentions to relinquish oversight of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions. What was expected to be a quiet announcement of a government contract dissolving after many years has become a global policy debate over how the Internet is run.

The key to keeping the Internet free from capture by any one entity is to ensure that the IANA functions continue to be part of a depoliticized and decentralized system. This can only happen if we continue the to-date-successful strategy of viewing the management of the Internet – including the IANA functions – as a purely technical operation to be handled by engineers without political agendas. As we will explore at an upcoming event at the American Enterprise Institute, only if the technical aspects of the Internet are insulated from political pressures can we be confident that relinquishing oversight of the IANA functions will be a success.

[Shane Tews is the chief policy officer at 463 Communications, a firm that advises high-tech organizations on Internet policies]