National Telecommunications and Information Administration

I want to talk about a topic that we have made a top priority during my seven years at [National Telecommunications and Information Administration]. I know many of you here in this room and watching from around the world are familiar with multistakeholder processes through the work of [Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers] and the [Internet Assigned Numbers Authority] stewardship transition. However, I want to spend a few minutes going into more detail about why we see this as not just as a tool for global technical Internet issues but also as a potential alternative to address a far broader set of policy issues.

The US government, including our Congress, has long championed the multistakeholder approach as the preferred tool for dealing with Internet policy issues. At NTIA, we will continue to trumpet the advantages of this approach wherever we can, both domestically and internationally. I ask all of you who support the model to help educate others about it and to push back against the ignorance sometimes displayed by opponents or skeptics of the approach, few of whom have ever actually participated in the process. We all want to protect Internet freedom and promoting the multistakeholder model is central to that protection.

For almost 20 years, Democratic and Republican Administrations, with bipartisan support from Congress, have worked closely with businesses, civil society groups, governments, and technical experts to develop a multistakeholder, private sector-led system for the global coordination of the Internet domain name system (DNS). The National Telecommunications and Information Administrations (NTIA’s) announcement in 2014 initiated the final step in the privatization process by asking the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to convene global stakeholders to develop a transition plan. The two years of effort by the Internet multistakeholder community to develop the transition plan reflect truly historic and unprecedented work. The plan developed by the community has strengthened the multistakeholder process and holds ICANN even more directly accountable to the customers of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions and to the broader Internet community. The proposal also ensures the continued leadership of the private sector in making decisions related to the technical underpinnings of the Internet.

The time to transition the IANA functions is now, and I urge this Congress to once again demonstrate strong support for the multistakeholder process related to Internet governance.

Pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA or Recovery Act) (Public Law No. 111-5), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) provides this Quarterly Report on the status of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. This Report focuses on the Program’s activities from October 1 to December 31, 2015.

NTIA established key project indicators to track the success of the Program. SBA projects tracked the number of households subscribing to broadband, or “SBA Subscribers.” CCI projects tracked the number of “New and Upgraded Network Miles” and the number of “Community Anchor Institutions (CAIs) Connected.” Since the BTOP appropriation originally expired on September 30, 2015, NTIA retired the key project indicators. NTIA noted this in the FY 2016 budget submitted to Congress. However, on September 30, 2015, President Obama signed the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2016, which extended the availability of BTOP funding for both active grants and those in closeout until September 30, 2020. As a result, NTIA reinstated the key project indicator for the number of “New and Upgraded Network Miles.” However, due to the limited number and type of projects remaining, NTIA did not reinstate the key project indicator “CAIs Connected.” As of December 2015, NTIA’s CCI grant recipients continued to make progress toward the Program’s FY 2016 goal of deploying new or upgraded network miles. Grant recipients’ quarterly progress reports provide more granular details of these results. These reports were made public in March 2016, except for those closeout reports not yet approved by NTIA. Between October 1 and December 31, 2015, the remaining BTOP grant recipients deployed or upgraded 1,037 additional network miles. This brings the cumulative total for all BTOP recipients to more than 116,702 miles of new or upgraded network infrastructure.

One of the things we tried to do at this event was to drill down deeper into the potential policy issues by exploring specific recommendations and discussing what types of government engagement might be beneficial. I think we have advanced the discussion on these issues so I want to thank all of the speakers, presenters, and audience participants for helping us do that. We plan to incorporate the valuable information we received from today’s discussion as we finalize a Department of Commerce policy green paper on Internet of Things (IoT), which will identify next steps for the Department and recommendations for the next Administration.

In addition, we are also actively addressing cybersecurity related to IoT, which we discussed here today and was one of the top issues identified by commenters in the RFC. Earlier this summer, we announced that we plan to launch a new multistakeholder process to support better consumer understanding of IoT products that support security upgrades. We are looking at the third week of October, most likely outside of the beltway, to launch that initiative. Stay tuned for more info on that. Also, stakeholders involved in NTIA’s process aimed at developing guidelines related to the disclosure of cybersecurity vulnerabilities are making good progress and appear on track to wrap up their work before the end of the year.

[Angela Simpson is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information at the US Patent and Trademark Office.]

In furtherance of the Broadband Opportunity Council's recommendation to improve data collection, analysis and research on broadband, NTIA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) request public comments to inform the development of a National Broadband Research Agenda in collaboration with the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program and other agencies that form the Council. This Agenda will reflect the most significant opportunities for data collection, analysis, and research to keep pace with, and take advantage of, the massive digital changes that permeate our economy and society.

Submit written comments on or before 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on October 11, 2016.

As part of our effort to encourage greater IPv6 adoption, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration is requesting comment from organizations that have implemented IPv6.

We want to hear from all stakeholders, particularly those who have implemented IPv6, about the factors and circumstances that influence the decision to adopt and use the protocol and what NTIA can do to promote greater adoption of IPv6. Some of the questions we’re asking are: What are the benefits of and obstacles related to implementing IPv6? What factors contribute to an organization’s decision to implement IPv6? What is the anticipated return on an IPv6-related investment? How long does the planning process for IPv6 implementation take, and what are the different types of costs involved? Those wishing to provide input have until October 3, 2016 to submit comments via email to ipv6@ntia.doc.gov. NTIA will use the input we receive from this RFC to guide and inform our efforts, as well as a potential contribution to the IPv6 Best Practice Forum, which is part of the intercessional work program at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Participants in the forum will convene to exchange ideas and discuss best practices on IPv6 implementation during the December IGF2016 event in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Two months ago, we passed an important milestone in a nearly 20-year effort to privatize the Internet domain name system (DNS). We announced on June 9 that the transition proposal developed by the Internet multistakeholder community meets the criteria we outlined in March 2014 when we declared our intent to transition NTIA’s stewardship role related to the DNS.

While this was a significant moment in this journey, we said in June that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which currently operates the IANA functions under a contract with NTIA, still had work to do to implement key action items called for in the transition plan. On Aug 12, ICANN informed NTIA that it has completed or will complete all the necessary tasks called for in the transition proposal by the end of the contract term. NTIA has thoroughly reviewed the report. We informed ICANN today that based on that review and barring any significant impediment, NTIA intends to allow the IANA functions contract to expire as of October 1. The IANA stewardship transition represents the final step in the U.S. government’s long-standing commitment, supported by three Administrations, to privatize the Internet’s domain name system.

While 75 percent of Americans reported using the Internet in July 2015, the longstanding disparity between urban and rural users persists and has emerged in the adoption of new technologies such as the smartphone and social media, according to the latest computer and Internet use data collected for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

This suggests that in spite of advances in both policy and technology, the barriers to Internet adoption existing in rural communities are complex and stubborn. In particular, Americans who were otherwise less likely to use the Internet—such as those with lower levels of family income or education—faced an even larger disadvantage when living in a rural area. Conversely, rural individuals with higher levels of education or family income did not have significantly lower adoption rates than their urban counterparts, according to the data. While the digital divide appears to be closing for some demographic communities, the gap between rural and urban populations has remained remarkably consistent for at least as long as NTIA has been gathering data on Internet use. In 1998, 28 percent of Americans living in rural areas used the Internet, compared to 34 percent of those in urban areas. Even as Internet use increased dramatically overall, a rural/urban gap remained in 2015, with 69 percent of rural residents reporting using the Internet, versus 75 percent of urban residents. This data indicates a fairly constant 6-9 percentage point gap between rural and urban communities’ Internet use over time. The data comes from NTIA’s Computer and Internet Use Supplement to the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey.

On March 10, 2016, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) delivered to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration the Internet multistakeholder community’s proposal to transition the U.S. Government’s stewardship role for the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Upon receiving the proposal, NTIA worked with U.S. Government agencies to review the proposal and ensure that it met the criteria outlined by NTIA in March 2014. On June 9, 2016, NTIA announced that the proposal met its criteria. Specifically, NTIA found that the proposal has broad community support and:

• Supports and enhances the multistakeholder model;
• Maintains the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet Domain Name System (DNS);
• Meets the needs and expectations of the global customers;
• Maintains the openness of the Internet; and
• Does not replace NTIA’s role with a government-led or intergovernmental organization solution.

NTIA also evaluated the proposal against relevant portions of an internal control framework, as recommended by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, 4 and found that the proposal adheres to internal control principles. In addition, a panel of corporate governance experts reviewed the ICANN accountability enhancements and concluded that the plan is consistent with sound principles of good governance.

To help realize the full innovative potential of the Internet of Things, users need reasonable assurance that IoT devices and applications will be secure. One particular area of concern is whether and how to address potential security vulnerabilities in IoT devices or applications through patching and security upgrades. In the early IoT market, there has sometimes been limited consideration for supporting future security patches, even though many devices will eventually need them. Enabling a thriving market for devices that support security upgrades requires common definitions so consumers know what they are getting.

A range of commenters on the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s recent IoT Request for Comment and 2015’s Request for Comment related to cybersecurity identified security upgradability as an issue that required attention and coordination. In response, NTIA is planning to launch a new multistakeholder process to support better consumer understanding of IoT products that support security upgrades. We have utilized this approach to help make progress on issues such as cybersecurity vulnerability disclosure and providing more transparency about data collected by mobile apps. Given the burgeoning consumer adoption of IoT, the time seems ripe to bring stakeholders together to help drive some guidelines to encourage the growth of IoT. The goal of the new multistakeholder process will be to promote transparency in how patches or upgrades to IoT devices and applications are deployed. Potential outcomes could include a set of common, shared terms or definitions that could be used to standardize descriptions of security upgradability or a set of tools to better communicate security upgradability. As with our other multistakeholder processes, it will be up to stakeholders to determine what outcome they want and when they have reached consensus on it. NTIA will act as a neutral convener. We welcome broad participation and diverse perspectives.