Expressing the Sense of the Congress Regarding Oversignt of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE CONGRESS REGARDING OVERSIGHT OF THE INTERNET CORPORATION FOR ASSIGNED NAMES AND NUMBERS -- (House of Representatives - November 16, 2005)

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Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in support of this concurrent resolution, which expresses the sense of Congress that management of IP numbering and addressing should remain in the hands of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, under the oversight of the United States Department of Commerce. This is an important resolution on one of the most pressing issues facing the Internet today.

The Internet has become a truly global medium in no small part due to the ``hands-off'' policies the United States has long followed in the Internet space. By one estimate, there are more than 160 million broadband Internet users worldwide. There are an estimated 1 billion Internet users worldwide, of which the United States, the birthplace of the Internet, constitutes less than one-fourth. More than a third of Internet users live in Asia, and nearly one third live in Europe. It has been our ``hands-off'' leadership in the United States that has enabled the Internet to grow so dramatically across the world.

The internationalization of the Internet is further evidenced by the widespread availability of IP address allocations, the vast majority of which are outside the United States. For IPv4 addresses, 33% went to the Asia Pacific Region, 32% to North America, 31% to Europe, 3% to South America and 1% to Africa. For IPv6, 56% of addresses went to Europe, 23% to the Asia Pacific Region, 17% to North America, 3% to Latin American and 1% to Africa. These figures clearly show that the current mechanisms for oversight of Internet addressing and numbering have led to an explosion of Internet usage not just in the United States but worldwide.

Far from governing the Internet, the United States has followed what can best be described as a policy of benign neglect. The Department of Commerce plays no role in the internal governance or day-to-day operations of ICANN. Rather, the relationship between the Department of Commerce and ICANN is governed by contract, not regulation. The Department of Commerce provides oversight simply to ensure that ICANN fulfills its responsibilities under that agreement. The true policy-making body here is ICANN, not the Department of Commerce. Moreover, ICANN's role under that agreement is best described as creating an open forum for technical coordination, to ensure the continued stability and openness of the Internet.

What's needed now is not the abandonment of the ICANN's existing management of IP addressing. Rather, what's needed is a continuation of the policies that have made IP address and domain name management stable, secure, efficient and open. At present, participation in ICANN is open to all who share ICANN's mission of technical coordination. ICANN holds public meetings throughout the year, and across the world. ICANN's staff represents seven different countries and its Board represents twelve nationalities. ICANN is already an international body managing IP addressing and numbering--a private-sector, non-profit, non-governmental international body that's been directly responsible for fostering an open, stable, and worldwide Internet.

For all of these reasons, I took great pleasure in reading today that negotiators from more than 100 nations agreed yesterday to leave ICANN, under the oversight of the Department of Commerce, in charge of managing the IP address and domain name systems. This multilateral agreement represents a resounding validation of the role ICANN continues to play, and a resounding validation of the resolution we are considering here today.

I strongly urge my colleagues to support this important resolution, and join me in voting in favor of it.

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