Latest News
- 1 October 2016 - Internet Society congratulates global Internet community on successful IANA stewardship transition.
- 30 September 2016 - Internet Society and other organizations file amicus brief in lawsuit filed by four US states arguing that the lawsuit should be denied and the transition allowed to proceed.
- 12 September 2016 - Internet Society President and CEO Kathryn Brown sends letter urging US Congress to allow the transition to proceed without delay.
- 9 September 2016 - TheHill.com publishes OpEd "Inaccurate rhetoric must not short-circuit internet transition" by Kathryn Brown
- 16 August 2016 - The NTIA states that they will let the IANA functions contract expire on October 1, allowing the transition to occur.
- 11 July 2016 - The Internet Society publishes a history of the IANA from its earliest years through today.
- 9 June 2016 - The NTIA says that the community-developed transition proposal meets the criteria NTIA established in March 2014.
- 24 May 2016 - The Internet Society issued a statement of support for the IANA Stewardship Transition after a hearing before a US Senate committee.
- 17 March 2016 - Sally Wentworth testified before a US Congressional Subcommittee in a hearing on "Privatizing the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority" - Read the testimony from Sally Wentworth.
- 14 March 2016 - Blog post from Kathy Brown: A note to the ISOC Community: Marking our success, building on IANA momentum to keep Internet on track
- 10 March 2016 - Blog post, video: ISOC President & CEO Kathy Brown delivers statement on IANA in Public Forum at ICANN 55
- 10 March 2016 - ISOC Board of Trustees Statement: Internet Society Applauds Community-Developed Plan to Transition Oversight of Key Internet Functions
Background
On 14 March 2014, the United States government announced its intention to transition its role and responsibilities with regards to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions. The IANA functions have historically included:
- The coordination of the assignment of technical Internet protocol parameters;
- The administration of certain responsibilities associated with Internet DNS root zone management;
- The allocation of Internet numbering resources;
- Other services related to the management of .ARPA and .INT top-level domains.
To learn more about the IANA functions and the transition process, we suggest you start with:
- IANA Fundamentals: The Basics
- Who Makes the Internet Work: The Internet Ecosystem
- Understanding the IANA Functions
UPDATES:
August 2016 - The NTIA states they will let the IANA functions contract expire on October 1, 2016 allowing the transition to occur.
June 2016 - The NTIA says that the community-developed transition proposal meets the criteria NTIA established in March 2014.
March 2016 - The NTIA received the combined IANA Stewardship Transition package from ICANN.
July 2015 - With the work of the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) to draft a proposal drawing to a close in July 2015, we published this document:
- Perspectives on the IANA Stewardship Transition Principles (see also this blog post from Sally Wentworth)
September 2015 - As part of the public comment period on the ICG proposal, we submitted these comments:
- Internet Society Comments on the IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal (see also this blog post from Kathy Brown)
October 2015 - With ICANN 54 underway in Dublin, our President and CEO Kathy Brown wrote about the current status of discussions.
HISTORY
Since 1999 the IANA functions have been contracted to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) by the US National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA). The NTIA has retained an oversight component with regard to the management of the Internet's DNS root zone and is now seeking to transition that responsibility to the global multistakeholder community.
NTIA's announcement on 14 March 2014 outlines the conditions under which a transfer can occur and called upon ICANN to convene global stakeholders to develop a proposal for this transition. NTIA asked ICANN work collaboratively with the directly affected parties, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), the Internet Society (ISOC), the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), top level domain name operators, VeriSign, and other interested global stakeholders.
Given that the NTIA Statement identified the Internet Society as one of the parties that were expected to contribute to the process, ISOC has elected:
- Internet Society Board of Trustees member Narelle Clark; and
- Internet Hall of Fame inductee Demi Getscko
as its representatives to the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG).
More information about the current activities and transition status can be found at:
VIEW OUR WEBINAR
In early 2015, the Internet Society hosted a webinar on the progress of the IANA transition.