On Wednesday, May 4, the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet convened the “ICANN Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) Oversight Hearing.” Subcommittee members, especially Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Ranking Member Mel Watt (D-NC), and House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI) engaged ICANN representative Kurt Pritz in heated questioning about the new gTLD policy and other aspects of ICANN.

In my capacity as CADNA President, I served as a witness, presenting testimony to the Subcommittee and answering questions. You can view a full video of the hearing here. 

Ultimately, the Subcommittee – both Democrat and Republican members – asked ICANN to consider delaying the launch of new gTLDs to give Congress more time to look into the program and potentially hold additional hearings. We are hopeful that this hearing will increase congressional interest in ICANN and lead to more oversight over the organization.