[Abstract]

Internet Governance ProjectThe essence of our comments can be summarized as follows: The transition of DNS administration envisioned by the White Paper has gotten stuck somewhere in the middle of the process. This halfway house is an unstable and undesirable place. We urge the U.S. Commerce Department to complete the transition of DNS to a nongovernmental, multistakeholder regime and to clarify and limit the role of national governments, including the U.S. government. To pave the way for the transition, we ask the U.S. to ameliorate and internationalize its oversight in ways that will strengthen the accountability of ICANN to the global Internet community. We ask that two new principles related to accountability be explicitly recognized as part of ICANN’s charter. One pertains to the basic human right of freedom of expression; the other would be a general principle of accountability.Suggested citation: Comments of the Internet Governance Project: (Docket No. 060519136-6136-01) The Continued Transition of the Technical Coordination and Management of the Internet Domain Name and Addressing System (July 7, 2006). Internet Governance Project. Paper IGP06-005. Available at https://www.internetgovernance.org/pdf/NTIAcomments-IGP-FINAL.pdf