Remarks by Assistant Secretary Strickling at the Computer and Communications Industry Association Washington Caucus

At NTIA and the Department of Commerce, our work on Internet policy is guided by three simple principles:

1. We support the Internet as a platform for economic growth. In doing so, we focus both on increasing the number of Internet users as well as encouraging more intensive use by existing users.
2. We support the Internet as a platform for innovation. In doing so, we seek to develop policies that are flexible, creative and rapidly adaptable to fast-changing technology.
3. We view the “Internet” as our client, not any one set of stakeholders. In setting policy, we must balance the competing interests of users by focusing on what policies best support economic growth and innovation.

So how do we put these principles into practice? The two key concepts we apply in support of growth are maintaining and increasing the trust of users of the Internet and expanding the global reach of the Internet economy. To support innovation, we want to make sure policymaking is flexible and adaptable.

That is why we are such strong supporters of the multistakeholder model of Internet governance. The US government has been a vigorous supporter of the multistakeholder model of Internet governance from the start. However, we are not the only ones.

On March 14, NTIA announced the final phase of the privatization of the domain name system by asking ICANN to convene global stakeholders to develop a proposal to transition the current role played by NTIA in the coordination of the DNS. In making this announcement, we stated that the transition proposal must have broad community support and must address four principles:

1. Support and enhance the multistakeholder model;
2. Maintain the security, stability and resiliency of the Internet DNS;
3. Meet the needs and expectations of the global customers and partners of the IANA services; and
4. Maintain the openness of the Internet.