Strickling Sees Progress, But Doubts IANA Transition Will Happen by Sept. 30

CAMBRIDGE, Maryland -- NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling doubted the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition will be done by the earliest possible date originally envisioned, Sept. 30. But he said progress is being made toward preserving a multistakeholder approach under IANA. The U.S. has made gains in beating back foreign government efforts to control Internet governance in general, but the battle isn't over, he said Saturday at the FCBA’s annual retreat.

Strickling said NTIA was encouraging U.S and foreign stakeholders to develop a consensus plan to shift ICANN’s oversight of IANA, most notably of the domain name system. Asked about the Sept. 30 transition target, when ICANN’s current contract expires, Strickling said the NTIA never set a deadline, and he expected work to continue work beyond then.

Strickling said there were originally some “strange” proposals for the transition, but said the process was working and the “silly” ideas were being jettisoned. Asked about pushback from U.S. industry and lawmakers to the ICANN transition, he said the views had evolved. He said critics initially questioned whether the transition was a good idea, but were now focused on how best to carry it out. He said parties were raising “very valid concerns” and NTIA is assessing developments and would have to evaluate the plan when it’s submitted. Strickling voiced optimism the parties would develop a good plan that Congress could support, though he acknowledged some skeptics remained.

Strickling received support from David Quinalty, counsel to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D. Quinalty said there had initially been some serious Capitol Hill questions about the IANA transition, but he credited NTIA with doing “good work” to address concerns and turn things around. “The process seems to be moving in a good direction,” he said. Quinalty said Republicans stood ready to push back if the plan allows foreign governments to “corrupt” IANA oversight.

Strickling said the overall international environment for Internet governance was looking better than in 2012 when a majority of countries at the World Conference on International Telecommunications signed onto a revised version of the international telecom regulations that generally favored more government control of the Internet (see 1212170040). “That was a real wake-up call,” Strickling said.

The U.S. government has since pressed foreign governments to seek multistakeholder solutions, leading to growing support for that approach and rejection of increased government control by most countries, with the exception of Russia and a few others such as Cuba, Strickling said. “And we may get Cuba next time,” he quipped. Strickling said the question was whether the U.S. could maintain the momentum. He said the worst thing would be for the transition from ICANN to be halted or significantly delayed because it would give authoritarian regimes an argument to press developing countries for more government control of the Internet.

Strickling said NTIA continues to work to repurpose federal spectrum for commercial purposes, but the efforts were complicated and not getting any easier. “We’re down to the hard stuff,” he said. Glenn Reynolds, Strickling’s chief of staff, said NTIA is pushing to implement President Barack Obama’s 2010 call for making 500 MHz available for the wireless industry. He said much of the spectrum would come from the FCC's recent AWS-3 auction, the upcoming incentive auction and efforts to use the 3.5 GHz and 5 GHz bands, with increased spectrum sharing/coordination needed. Reynolds said he hoped the 500 MHz goal would be achieved by 2017 or 2018.

Reynolds said the NTIA is overseeing final implementation of 12 remaining broadband projects under its BTOP program, which provided over $4 billion in grants funded by the 2009 economic stimulus act. The program focused on “middle mile” initiatives to help connect 25,000 anchor institutions in communities, he said. Keith Adams, a Rural Utilities Service assistant administrator, said RUS disbursed $2.6 billion under its broadband stimulus program, with $400 million to go. The RUS projects had connected over 200,000 rural consumers and were expected to connect up to 700,000 when they're completed, he said.

FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny said she was focused on protecting consumer data security. She emphasized the need for providing consumer education and ensuring “reasonable” industry practices to protect data security while recognizing that “perfect security” was unrealistic. She noted recent FTC enforcement action that prodded Nomi Technologies to settle charges relating to its technology that allows retailers to track consumer movements through their stores. The FTC alleged Nomi misled consumers with promises that it would inform them about stores where the tracking was available and provide a mechanism for consumers to opt out.