Lawmakers and industry leaders praise ICANN deal

Key lawmakers today praised an agreement reached late Tuesday aimed at ensuring a permanent relationship between the U.S. government and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. The deal requires ICANN to set up review processes to help assess and improve its mission and operations and was signed hours before an existing contract was set to expire.

Under the arrangement, ICANN will create panels to examine such areas as network security and stability; the evolution of generic domains as well as domains based on non-Latin characters; and the continuance of a public database of Web site owners and accountability. An accountability panel -- the only one required to have a U.S. government representative -- is also set up under the plan.

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., called the agreement "a perfect example of how a public-private partnership can work to the advantage of all stakeholders." The pair wrote to Commerce Secretary Locke in August urging him to press for principles to codify the U.S.-ICANN link and prevent any one entity from controlling the underpinnings of the Internet.

ICANN has also promised to address various issues, including consumer protection and trademark matters, before moving forward on its plan to bring to market potentially hundreds of new domain names. That expansion has worried lawmakers and intellectual property owners, who claim it could exacerbate cyber-squatting, fraud and consumer confusion while forcing companies to spend more money to defend their brands.

In an interview, ICANN Vice President Paul Levins said the pact is a "definitive vote of confidence" for his group's private sector-led leadership model. ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom said the deal strikes the right balance between nurturing the organization's maturing global presence while retaining a "much lighter-weight" affiliation with the U.S. government.

Industry players also lauded the plan. Former ICANN Chairman Vint Cerf said the agreement will allow the group to "serve the world's interest in a robust, reliable and interoperable Internet."

Steve DelBianco, head of the e-commerce group NetChoice, said the accord "delivers what the global Internet community has clamored for: permanent accountability mechanisms."