The US Commerce Department has announced that it will allow the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to
continue overseeing the internet’s global addressing system for at
least another year, despite concerns about its progress. ICANN’s
contract with the Department was set to expire at the end of
September and this is the third extension which has been granted to
ICANN since 1998, when the body was formed by the US government and
authorised to regulate the internet domain name system.
Assistant Commerce Secretary Nancy Victory said in a statement
that although the Department is “frankly disappointed that ICANN’s
progress on the [contractual] tasks thus far has moved so slowly”,
it considers the internet body’s “recent broad reform efforts to be
a substantial justification for affording ICANN a limited amount of
additional time to achieve [the tasks].”
As a condition of the contract renewal, ICANN will be required
to continue its internal reform process, which was initiated in
February 2002. In addition, ICANN has agreed to address certain
issues, including the transparency and accountability of its
decision-making and the security of internet functions.
The contract between the parties specifically directs the
Commerce Department to engage in “certain activities to assist
ICANN”, such as consulting with foreign governments.
The Department concluded that the organisation “cannot achieve
full success unilaterally” and invited “other governments and the
various internet constituencies” to participate actively in the
reform process.
The Commerce Department has said that it will closely monitor
ICANN’s efforts and will require it to submit quarterly reports on
its progress.
