Commerce Dept's role in Internet oversight scrutinized

COMMERCE ROLE IN INTERNET OVERSIGHT SCRUTINIZED
[SOURCE: Washington Post 5/20, AUTHOR: Arshad Mohammed]
The Bush administration plans to renew its exclusive contract with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the U.S.-based nonprofit group that oversees key technical matters governing how computers communicate over the Internet. The intention to give ICANN a sole-source contract, disclosed on a federal government contracting Web site Thursday, reflects the Commerce Department's belief that the group, based in Marina del Rey, Calif., is the only entity capable of the unglamorous but necessary responsibility of managing the Internet's basic plumbing. The decision may revive international debate about the Commerce Department's role overseeing ICANN's work, a source of resentment among countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Brazil. Even the European Union has called for phasing out the department's oversight in favor of some model that would increase international input. This puts the Bush administration in something of a bind as it tries to balance the demands of U.S. lawmakers adamant that the United States retain its oversight with those of other countries that want more of a say. Under the contract, which would run for one year with four one-year options, ICANN would keep its core function of managing the Internet's domain name system -- essentially overseeing the master list at the heart of the Internet that helps users find their way around and ensures traffic goes to the right addresses. In its notice, the Commerce Department said other groups had until June 17 to make the case that they were capable of meeting the contract's technical demands and overcome the agency's presumption that ICANN is best suited to the task.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/19/AR200605...