[Singapore – 15 February 2015] – The Internet Society Board of Trustees, during its Board meeting 14-15 February 2015, applauded the progress made by the global Internet community on the IANA stewardship transition and encouraged continued momentum to ensure a robust and successful proposal that leads to globalization. Acknowledging the milestones that have been reached to date, the Board stressed that a successful transition will reinforce the value of the collaborative, multistakeholder model.
The Internet Society recognizes the complexity of this transition and that core issues of accountability, security and stability are at stake. The Board noted that it is encouraged by the transparency employed by the IANA operating communities and by the broad engagement of the Internet community in the process.
The Board of Trustees also welcomed the proposals submitted by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) and is encouraged by the solid progress being made on the names’ community proposal. Furthermore, it congratulates ICANN on the effective operation of the IANA functions.
Internet Society Board of Trustees Chair, Bob Hinden, noted, “This process is a true reflection of the power of the multistakeholder approach to bring parties together to solve complex problems. We encourage all parties to stay focused on the goal of achieving a globally interoperable Internet that continues to evolve as a platform for permissionless innovation.”
In this regard, the Internet Society underscores the importance of the following key principles to support the sustainable evolution of the Internet ecosystem:
• Accountability – Robust measures are essential in ensuring that no single group captures the IANA functions.
• Transparency – A multistakeholder, bottom-up framework is the most appropriate model for the operation of the IANA functions.
Recognizing the success that ICANN has had in uniting the community to discuss the issues at hand, the Board of Trustees urges all participants to maintain momentum in the process and to continue to work together to ensure the successful transition of the IANA functions to the global multistakeholder community.
Kathryn Brown, Internet Society President and CEO, emphasized that globalization of the IANA functions is a critical step in providing additional confidence in the collaborative and inclusive Internet governance model. “Smooth operation of the Internet depends upon a global, coordinated approach to managing these shared resources. The process to transition and globalize the IANA functions is a demonstration of global multistakeholder community cooperation in action.”