Dear SO/AC SG Leaders: As you may be aware, the United States government announced its intention to transfer its stewardship of the IANA Functions to the global Internet multistakeholder community.NTIA release is up http://www.ntia.doc.gov/press-release/2014/ntia-announces-intent-transition-... In 1998, the year ICANN was formed, the U.S. government determined that, as the Internet continued to expand globally, stewardship of that technical role would one day become the responsibility of all Internet stakeholders representing, not just governments, but also business, non-commercial interests, technical and academic communities and independent Internet users around the world. in fulfilling its contractual obligations in executing the IANA Functions since 1998, ICANN has achieved both operational excellence and organizational maturity. That has prompted the United States government to designate ICANN to launch a process that allows the community to design a framework for the IANA Function transition through its bottom-up, multistakeholder model. That will include opportunities for global stakeholder input, including from ICANN's Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees and directly-impacted parties. If you are interested in becoming further involved with this community consultation process, please see the timeline below. I look forward to having your support as we move forward on this significant transitional process. A Saturday , March 15 webinar is planned for the Community. An announcement will be made shortly. The ICANN Release is here: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 14 March 2014 Administrator of Domain Name System Launches Global Multistakeholder Accountability Process Press Briefing Scheduled with Board Chair and CEO Los Angeles, California...The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today launched a process to transition the role of the United States Government relating to the Internet's unique identifiers system. ICANN's announcement comes on the heels of an historic announcement today by the U.S. Government stating that it is ready to transfer its stewardship of the important Internet technical functions to the global Internet community. The U.S. Government's current responsibilities to be transitioned include the procedural role of administering changes to the Domain Name System's (DNS) to the authoritative root zone file - the database containing the lists of names and addresses of all top-level domains - as well as serving as the historic steward of the unique identifiers registries for Domain names, IP addresses, and protocol parameters. In doing so, the U.S. recognized ICANN's maturation in becoming an effective multistakeholder organization and requested that ICANN convene the global community to develop the transition process from of the U.S. stewardship to a global community consensus-driven mechanism. "We are inviting governments, the private sector, civil society, and other Internet organizations from the whole world to join us in developing this transition process," said Fadi Chehadé, ICANN's President and CEO. "All stakeholders deserve a voice in the management and governance of this global resource as equal partners." Independent of the U.S. transition, the roles of the Internet technical organizations, including ICANN's role as administrator of the Internet's unique identifier system, remain unchanged. The Internet's Unique Identifier functions are not apparent to most Internet users, but they play a critical role in maintaining a single, global, unified and interoperable Internet. "Even though ICANN will continue to perform these vital technical functions, the U.S. has long envisioned the day when stewardship over them would be transitioned to the global community," said Dr. Stephen D. Crocker, ICANN's Board Chair. "In other words, we have all long known the destination. Now it is up to our global stakeholder community to determine the best route to get us there." "The global multistakeholder process is defined by inclusion, and it will take some time to make sure that we obtain all of the necessary inputs," said Chehadé. "By the time the current contract with the U.S. Government expires in September 2015, we will have a defined and clear process for global multistakeholder stewardship of ICANN's performance of these technical functions." The first community-wide dialogue about the development of the transitional process will begin March 23-27 during ICANN's 49thPublic Meeting, in Singapore. All global stakeholders are welcome to participate in person or remotely. ## To see more about the IANA Functions survey go here: http://www.icann.org/en/news/press/releases/release-15jan14-en Press Briefing Note: Because of the historic nature of this announcement, ICANN Board Chair Dr. Stephen D. Crocker and ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé will make themselves available to answer journalists' questions during a 1-hour press briefing. Details are: Date/Time: Friday, 14 March 2014 at 11PM UTC / 7PM U.S. EDT Telephone Access Numbers: International access numbers may be obtained here - www.adigo.com/icann<http://www.adigo.com/icann>. Once you have reached the conferencing center, dial 25594#. Journalist Questions: Because there are likely to be many journalists joining this briefing, upon calling in, your line will be muted. If you have a question, please hit #3 and tell the conference operator the following: * Your name. * Your news organization. * The city and country from which you are calling. * The conference operator will notify the moderator, who will then introduce you. * Your line will be unmuted and you may ask your question. MEDIA CONTACTS: Brad White ICANN Director of Global Media Affairs Washington, D.C. Tel. +1 (202) 570 7118 brad.white@icann.org<mailto:brad.white@icann.org> James Cole ICANN Global Media Coordinator Washington, D.C. Tel. +1 (202) 570 7139 james.cole@icann.org<mailto:james.cole@icann.org> Liana Teo ICANN Head of Communications - Asia/Pacific Singapore Tel. +65 6808 6669 liana.teo@icann.org<mailto:liana.teo@icann.org> Alexandra Dans ICANN Communications Manager - Latin America and the Caribbean Montevideo, Uruguay Tel. +598 2604 2222 alexandra.dans@icann.org<mailto:alexandra.dans@icann.org> About ICANN: ICANN's mission is to ensure a stable, secure and unified global Internet. To reach another person on the Internet you have to type an address into your computer - a name or a number. That address has to be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN coordinates these unique identifiers across the world. Without that coordination we wouldn't have one global Internet. ICANN was formed in 1998. It is a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation with participants from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet's unique identifiers. ICANN doesn't control content on the Internet. It cannot stop spam and it doesn't deal with access to the Internet. But through its coordination role of the Internet's naming system, it does have an important impact on the expansion and evolution of the Internet. For more information please visit: www.icann.org<http://www.icann.org/>. If you would rather not receive future communications from ICANN, let us know by clicking here.<http://icann.pr-optout.com/OptOut.aspx?523509x19831x99191x1x3785396x24000x6&...> ICANN, 12025 Waterfront Drive Suite 300, Los Angeles, CA 90094-2536 United States Best regards, David -- David A. Olive Vice President, Policy Development Support General Manager, ICANN Regional Headquarters -Istanbul Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Hakki Yeten Cad. Selenium Plaza No:10/C K:5 34349 Fulya, Besiktas, Istanbul, Turkey Tel: +90.212.381.8727 - Fax: +90.212.381.8731 - Mobile: +1. 202.341.3611 [cid:E6EE529C-AE6E-4B9D-8C5C-796B30E73E65]
