A key section of the 49th ICANN Singapore Meeting has met to discuss re-assigning control over the domain space in connection with the U.S. government decision to step down as administrator upon expiration of its contract with ICANN in 2015.
In his opening remarks, ICANN Board Chair Steve Crocker thanked all the leaders of the organizations engaged in organizational and technical support of the Internet and for expressing the interests of the Internet community as a whole. According to Crocker, the U.S. government’s decision is a recognition of the fact that the Internet community has reached a phase of maturity, where it can determine its fate and create its own control mechanisms. "I am happy and proud to have the honor of opening this meeting which proclaims this historic moment," Steve Crocker said.
ICANN President Fadi Shehade spoke next and pointed out that the current goal was not just to form control mechanisms and bodies which would be assigned control over the Internet, but to develop principles underlying such mechanisms and bodies. "The community can and should use the current stage of its development to create multilateral mechanisms to ensure control and transparency of the global network which will replace the United States in this role. This is exactly the point of the decision made by the U.S. government," Shehade said.
The ICANN President also noted that the U.S. will not agree to transfer control functions over the Internet to governments of any country or a group of countries, or intergovernmental organizations for that matter, to eliminate the possibility of manipulating the network in anyone's interests. He reminded the audience of IANA’s main functions and urged the participants not to strive to create new mechanisms or bodies, noting that many of them are already in place and are quite effective.
In closing, Fadi Shehade said that ICANN’s contract with the U.S. government expires in 2015, but can be renewed. The Internet community does not believe that it must make up its mind by this deadline at any cost. The main goal is to develop mechanisms that would ensure genuine security, stability and transparency of the Internet, the ICANN President said.
