WASHINGTON, January 31, 2011—The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) applauds House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Chair Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) for the introduction of House Resolution 57. CADNA strongly supports the notion raised in the Resolution that Internet governance is a vital factor in national security, trade, and the protection of intellectual property of peoples and nations around the world. The Resolution urges President Obama to engage in further discussion about the future of Internet governance, as well as to oppose the transfer of Internet control to the United Nations or any other international governmental organization.

“Highlighting the need for continued dialogue about the current and future state of Internet governance is crucial,” said CADNA President Josh Bourne. “Congresswoman Bono Mack’s Resolution brings this debate to the forefront, and opens the door for further discussion of the responsibilities of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN); a transparent and accountable ICANN is the key to successful Internet governance.” The Resolution does not address the current system of Internet governance under ICANN, but a successful discussion of the future governance structure of the Internet must include an assessment of the present situation.

As the organization currently charged with governing the domain name space, ICANN has played an integral role in the development of the Internet over the past thirteen years. Recently, however, issues with the internal structure of ICANN have been raised by many, including ICANN’s own Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) and Accountability and Transparency Review Team (ATRT). Specific concerns regarding ICANN’s proposed rollout of hundreds of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) have also been raised by Internet users and businesses, as well. The GAC’s most recent communiqué, issued immediately following ICANN’s Cartagena meeting in early December 2010, presented concerns with the ICANN Board’s explicit rejection of GAC advice on several matters pertaining to the new gTLD policy, as well as the Board’s lack of transparency in important policy decisions.

CADNA supports the idea of charging ICANN, an international organization, with regulating the Internet, but the current opaque structure of ICANN raises doubts as to the stability of the Internet in the hands of an organization that is not held accountable for its decisions. ICANN is the right model, but requires transparency, accountability, and responsiveness to public interests in order to function as it should. Further to Congresswoman Bono Mack’s Resolution, CADNA encourages the Congresswoman to convene a hearing to investigate the present situation of ICANN governance practices, and thereby the current state of Internet governance.

The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the systemic domain name abuses that plague the Internet today. For more information, please visit www.cadna.org.