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US claims option to delay IANA transition as Cruz launches free speech doomsday clock

Kevin Murphy, September 1, 2016, 08:24:16 (UTC), Domain Policy

The US government has told ICANN that it may extend the current IANA functions contract for a year, should something unexpected happen this month.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration wrote to ICANN (pdf) yesterday, to provide “preliminary notice” that it could extent the contract until September 30, 2017, if a “significant impediment” should occur before October 1, 2016.
It appears to be a formality. NTIA said:

the department intends to allow the IANA functions contract to expire as of October 1, 2016, barring any significant impediment. This notice preserves the Government’s rights under the contract during this interim period should there be a change in circumstance.

Under the contract, NTIA is allowed to extend the term for another year in the last 15 days of the current term, but it has to give 30 days notice to ICANN if it wants to do so.
NTIA assistant secretary Larry Strickling told ICANN (pdf) a couple weeks ago that it plans to allow the IANA contract to expire — thereby removing NTIA’s piddling influence in root zone management — October 1.
But the move is facing continued criticism from increasingly unhinged elements of the American political right, who have got it into their heads that the transition means Russia and China will be able to take over ICANN and crush free speech online.
The campaign has been spearheaded by Senator Ted Cruz and whoever pulls the strings of Wall Street Journal columnist L Gordon Crovitz, and has roped in a multitude of hard-right think-tanks.
The latest publicity push for the campaign saw Cruz yesterday launch a countdown clock on its Senate web page.
Countdown
Cruz’s site states:

If that proposal goes through, countries like Russia, China, and Iran could be able to censor speech on the Internet, including here in the U.S. by blocking access to sites they don’t like.

None of that is true, needless to say.
But the anti-transition sentiment is strong enough that it’s not impossible that there will be a “significant impediment” to the transition before October 1 — a legal injunction against the Federal government, perhaps — and the extension will enable ICANN to run IANA under the current regime for another year.

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Comments (3)

  1. Jim Prendergast says:
    September 1, 2016 at 1:01 pm

    ICANN also posted an FAQ on this notice as well. https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/prelim-notice-iana-functions-contract-faq-31aug16-en.pdf

    Reply
  2. Aaron Strong says:
    September 1, 2016 at 5:13 pm

    It should be noted that the transition concerns are not solely coming from the political right…There are those from the political left that are concerned as well…This issue is escalating to become bipartisan, for good reason…

    Reply
    • Kevin Murphy says:
      September 1, 2016 at 6:42 pm

      Judging by the insanity crossing my Twitter feed the last few days, I’d say it’s still a predominantly right-wing talking point. However, if any notable Democrats have voiced concerns as strongly, I would be certainly interested to report that too.

      Reply

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