There was plenty of praise from Washington following the House's passage of the bipartisan Dotcom Act, which provides for congressional oversight of the transition of the Internet domain naming regime to a multistakeholder model.
"We applaud House passage of the Dotcom Act (HR 805) which will help guide the transition of IANA to the multi-stakeholder model while providing Congressional oversight and strong management of the process," said the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. "The entire cable industry is ready to assist all stakeholders in ensuring that the IANA [Internet Assigned Numbers Authority] transition is a success."
“The DOTCOM bill requires that the plan to transition key Internet functions to the multi-stakeholder community must preserve the security, stability, resilience, and integrity of the Internet platform," said Mark MacCarthy, VP of public policy for the Software and Information Industry Association.
“It also preserves the legitimate role of the United States Congress in the transition of the Internet Assigned Names Authority (IANA) to control by a multi-stakeholder body. It ensures that the transition plan will support and enhance the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance, will maintain the openness of the Internet and will prevent a takeover of ICANN by other governments or inter-governmental organizations."
“SIIA urges the Senate to follow the House’s lead and pass this important piece of legislation quickly.”
The Senate Commerce Committee is planning to mark up the bill Thursday, where it also has bipartisan support.
Blogging for the Information Technology Industry Council, director of global policy Ken Salaets said the act would give clear direction to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration as it transfers "stewardship" of IANA.
"A timely, responsible transition will help ensure that the IANA functions remain in the hands of independent expert organizations, while also reassuring the global community of the U.S. commitment to multistakeholder governance of the Internet," he wrote. "H.R. 805, as amended, is an important contribution to this goal and the Senate Commerce Committee has already signaled it will take up the measure shortly."
(Photo via Rock1997 from Wikimedia Commons. Image taken on June 24, 2015 and used per Creative Commons 2.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 3x4 aspect ratio.)
