The WallStreetJournal.com, according to a letter (unfortunately the link to the letter is not right in the article) in the Journal today , Commerce Department official Lawrence Strickling dismissed the importance of U.S. oversight of ICANN and said that there is no firm deadline for the U.S. to give up oversight of ICANN.
“In March the U.S. announced it would not renew its contract with ICANN next September. Mr. Strickling now says that’s not a firm deadline:
“We will not complete the transition absent an accountability plan that has the support of the community.”
In the rest of the article in the Journal continues to bash the plan in the article which quotes Philip Corwin, of the Internet Commerce Association (the ICA)
“The Obama administration is already on notice that this work will not be completed before it must decide whether to maintain U.S. stewardship of the Internet.”
“Mr. Strickling’s letter also fails to address a fundamental question: why the executive branch thinks it can act on its own. The Constitution says only Congress can transfer federal property, such as the Icann contract. The administration has not provided any legal argument to the contrary. Congress has voted unanimously to keep U.S. oversight and should block unilateral action by the White House.
“The U.S. can renew the ICANN agreement for another four years beyond September 2015.”
That would give everyone the chance to see if there is any way to protect the open Internet without U.S. stewardship. We know for sure that there will be no protection on the schedule set by the Obama administration.”
In my opinion, we already know there are a bunch of Republicans that are against the plan and with the GOP taking control of the Senate in January, it seems like its going to be a tough go to get this done in time for next September
