WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) joined U.S. Senators John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in seeking clarification from Assistant Secretary of Commerce Larry Strickling, head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), regarding the recent announcement that NTIA intends to relinquish responsibility of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions to the global multistakeholder community. The IANA is responsible for the global coordination of the domain name system, assigning IP addresses, and other internet protocol resources.
“The internet has changed with world, brought democratic ideals to the masses, and become a driving force in American innovation, technology and entrepreneurship,” Sen. Moran said. “I will work to protect the internet from government intervention, and oppose any attempt by this Administration to allow control by governments and international organizations that do not share our values of freedom of speech and thought.”
The letter expresses Sen. Moran’s strong support for “the existing bottom-up, multistakeholder approach to the internet governance that has led to immense prosperity and empowerment for individuals around the world. The current approach has helped to define the open internet, which has allowed the private sector to deliver technology and services that have changed our lives for the better,” and cautions: “We must not allow the IANA functions to fall under the control of repressive governments, America’s enemies, or unaccountable bureaucrats.”
The letter goes on to say: “The global community of Internet stakeholders should act deliberately and transparently as it formulates a possible proposal to transition the IANA functions to a nongovernmental entity. The multistakeholder model of Internet governance and the IANA functions are far too important for this process to be rushed or to be done behind closed doors.”
Among other things, the letter asks the administration to “explain why it is in our national interest to transition the IANA functions,” and how NTIA will ensure “the IANA functions do not end up being controlled, directly or indirectly, by a government or inter-governmental entity.”