Internet Infrastructure Coalition

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.

The Internet thrives when a level playing field allows innovation to come from anyone with a good idea and the ability to act on it. Minimal barriers to entry encourage individual entrepreneurs, small businesses, and global companies to compete in the same arena.

The most effective way for the Federal Communications Commission to protect and promote the Internet is to implement Open Access by reclassifying the broadband transmission component as a Title II telecommunications service.

Although Net Neutrality rules attempt to alleviate the effects of an uncompetitive last mile by regulating broadband access, Open Access strikes at the heart of the problem by opening up the network to robust competition. Open Access would bring competition back to the Internet access market and consumer choice would be the primary safeguard against abusive and discriminatory network practices.

[Snead is Internet Infrastructure Coalition Co-Founder and Public Policy Chair]

The Internet governance debate is devouring headlines, and has been for months as governments seek to expand their roles -- for various reasons -- in overseeing the domain name system (DNS). Meanwhile, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the technical coordinating body for the DNS, is furiously working to maintain its historic role as the caretaker of such an important resource. And Congress, on occasion, raises its hand and weighs in on any number of subjects, from Whois usage down to specific approaching new generic top-level domains (gTLDs).

The steps we take now and in the coming months and years to level that playing field, and provide a real and competitive landscape, without the heavy hand of over-regulation will go a long way toward determining the success of the program and fulfilling its promise to the market.

It’s therefore essential that ICANN not only understand the danger of over-regulating the very program it created to foster innovation, but that it help governments and others understand the dangers of doing so. Artificial constraint, arbitrary rules, last-minute changes, misunderstandings of the market -- all of these will endanger the success of the gTLD program and other innovations to follow.

The House Commerce Committee’s vote to recommend the DOTCOM Act to the full House for approval has the potential of slowing the transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) function to the global multistakeholder community.

The i2Coalition believes that this transition, if given the opportunity to be handled properly by the multistakeholder community unencumbered by US political gamesmanship, will lead to a more vibrant global economy and a stronger Internet. The DOTCOM Act is harmful to the future of the Internet and the economy that relies on Internet growth.

The IANA transition process should be allowed to move forward without delay, and this decision is clearly a disappointment. The global Internet governance process stands at a critical point. Though the IANA functions are little more than an administrative task, they have become a core symbol behind an idea that the US government exerts undue influence over Internet decision-making worldwide.

The global perception of the NSA’s data collection programs has impeded global adoption of the cloud, with businesses worldwide making decisions based on where data is located instead of on a technical or operational basis. The transition of the IANA function to the multistakeholder community has the potential to disarm much of the global criticism levied against the way the Internet is currently governed, which is a positive thing for an economy that relies upon the free and open Internet that multistakeholderism enables.

Stubbornly holding on to the IANA functions serves little purpose for the United States, and has the potential of doing real harm to the already badly bruised US Internet image. By allowing the transition process to proceed as scheduled, Congress can disarm many of the critics who are angling for a replacement of the multistakeholder approach to Internet governance. Abandoning or significantly weakening the multistakeholder model of Internet governance can lead to a fractured global Internet, reduced economic growth, and a threat to free speech throughout much of the world.

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 Infrastructure Coalition is one of 10 global organizations that recently petitioned the co-facilitators of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to keep Internet policy negotiations open and collaborative for the 10-year review.

The next set of consultations on the WSIS process is March 11. The i2Coalition believes that the WSIS process creates a unique opportunity to ensure that the future of both is more synergistic. We envision an overall WSIS review that:

• Renews and revives the international community’s commitment to the Geneva principles’ vision of a “people-centred, inclusive, development-oriented and non-discriminatory Information Society”;
• Is firmly rooted in the international human rights framework and the multi-stakeholder tradition, which is at the heart of the Information Society;
• Considers fully how private enterprise, especially SMEs, can help deliver a networked economy with the greatest benefits at the lowest cost for all, especially those who are in developing and least-developed countries and not yet online;
• Learns from the last 10 years WSIS implementation and ensures future implementation is designed to helping the world deliver on the goals of the post-2015 development agenda.

[March 10]

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.