CIAO DATE: 04/2015
November 2014
Centre for International Governance Innovation
The US government has announced that it is prepared to unilaterally relinquish its historical control of the key technical functions that make up the modern-day Internet. This control stems from the foundational role played by the United States in the creation of the Internet, and has been exercised through the law of contract over the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Under the existing contractual arrangement, ICANN has been accountable to the US government for the performance of these functions. However, if the US government is no longer party to this agreement, then to whom should ICANN be accountable?
Resource link: Legal Mechanisms for Governing the Transition of Key Domain Name Functions to the Global Multi-stakeholder Community [PDF] - 4.7M