ICANN

ICANN - Letter from Becky Burr - July 8, 1999

ICANN

Letter from J. Beckwith Burr (US DoC) to Esther Dyson and Mike Roberts (ICANN)
(July 8, 1999)

July 8, 1999

Ms. Esther Dyson, Interim Chairman of the Board
Mr. Michael Roberts, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292

Dear Esther and Michael:

Thank you very much for your report outlining the tremendous progress that has been made in the six months since the United States Department of Commerce officially recognized ICANN as the global, non-profit consensus organization envisioned in our White Paper issued in June 1998.

The many achievements you have made since last November are especially noteworthy in light of the challenge presented in creating a world-wide, non-profit, private consensus organization consistent with the core principles of stability, competition, private sector, bottom-up coordination and geographic representation inherent to the Internet. We appreciate the concrete examples of the steps you have taken toward our shared goal of transitioning technical management of the domain name system, after years of direct government involvement, to private sector hands.

In carefully reviewing your report, and the considerable progress made toward establishing the structures for representative decision making contemplated in the White paper, there is still important work to be done:

ICANN's top priority must be to complete the work necessary to put in place an elected Board of Directors on a timely basis. Specifically, ICANN must do everything within its power to establish the Supporting Organizations, and ensure the election of nine board members by those Organizations to begin serving at the November 1999 Board Meeting. The process of electing At-Large Directors should be complete by June 2000.

ICANN should eliminate the $1 per-year, per-domain name registration user fee. Although the user fee may be determined to be an appropriate method for funding ICANN's activities, it is controversial. We believe a permanent financing method should not be adopted until after the nine elected members are added to the ICANN Board in November. By taking such a step, ICANN will ensure that this important decision is made in accordance with the representative, bottom-up process that is essential for ICANN to carry out its mission. In the meanwhile, we will work with ICANN and the entire Internet community, to the extent permitted by law, to obtain interim resources for ICANN.

ICANN should immediately open its Board Meetings to the public. Transparency is critical to establishing trust in decision making. And trust is essential for ICANN's ultimate success. As a general matter, ICANN has undertaken the vast majority of its work in an open and transparent manner. The final step of opening the Board Meetings is critical to establishing trust in ICANN.

There is concern in the Internet community about the possibility of over-regulation. Therefore, ICANN should assure all registrars and registries through its contractual relations that it will restrict its policy development activities to matters that are reasonably necessary to achieve the goals specified in the White Paper and that it will act in accordance with the procedural principles set forth in the White Paper.

As your report makes clear, the process of establishing ICANN has understandably been a difficult and contentious one from the beginning. It is therefore incumbent on all of us engaged in this process, both in our public and private actions, to take steps to ensure that, both in substance and in tone, we set an example for accuracy, civility, and respect. We understand that in this environment, it is not always easy to be consistent in this regard, but it is essential to achieving our shared goal.

On behalf of the Department, let me thank you, again, for your report. It is a credit to you both, the Board of Directors and staff of ICANN, and the entire Internet community that we have made such tremendous progress in the past six months. With these actions, and the other steps already taken by ICANN, we believe that ICANN will put itself on a very firm footing to achieve the goals and principles spelled out in the White Paper.

Sincerely,

J. Beckwith Burr

Click here for Esther Dyson's response to this letter.