ICANN seeks to quell concerns on the Hill

The California-based entity that administers the world's Internet addresses has assured lawmakers it is committed to a "long-term, formal relationship" with the U.S. government.

It made its pledge in a letter Tuesday, a week before the expiration of an agreement between the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom told House Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith and House Judiciary Courts and Competition Subcommittee ranking member Howard Coble, R-N.C., in the letter that he is working with NTIA to set guidelines under which ICANN would promise to remain a U.S.-based nonprofit and continue its focus on transparency and accountability.

The letter from Beckstrom, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who had served as director of the Homeland Security Department's National Cybersecurity Center, mirrored written testimony by ICANN Chief Operating Officer Doug Brent, who appeared at a House Judiciary Courts and Competition Subcommittee hearing today to vouch for the organization's planned expansion of top-level domains such as .biz, .info and .us.

ICANN has faced scrutiny on Capitol Hill and among industry stakeholders as it seeks more independence from federal oversight, as well as the ability to bring potentially hundreds of new domain names to market. Beckstrom's predecessor, Paul Twomey, weathered a hostile House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee hearing this summer.

Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., urged Commerce Secretary Locke in August to press for a set of enduring principles to "place beyond doubt the value of the current [relationship]" and prevent any one entity from controlling the underpinnings of the Internet.

Meanwhile, NTIA Associate Administrator Fiona Alexander and senior adviser Larry Atlas quietly visited Asia, Europe and South America this month to share details about the path forward for the United States and ICANN with their foreign counterparts. Key Hill aides have also been briefed on the new agreement, sources said.