Broadening the Oversight of a Free and Open Internet

[Commentary] The Internet has matured because it is free and open, led by the private economy and based on voluntary standards. It is built on the principles that define America: free enterprise and limited government. It is those same ideals of privatization that frame a proposal recently sent to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration that would transition stewardship of some key Internet technical functions away from the U.S. to a diverse and accountable global Internet community.

Why is such a transition needed? Since the Internet’s inception, the U.S. Commerce Department and the California nonprofit corporation that I head, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, have been in charge of coordinating the global assignment of Internet addresses and domain names. In 2014 the U.S. government decided a more international stewardship was appropriate. Since then, the global Internet community has been working on a proposal that assures that such a transition will not threaten the openness and freedom of the Internet. First and foremost, this proposal guards against “capture” by any one group or government. This is the primary reason the Internet community—along with businesses, civil society and other interest groups—has given its blessing to the changes. This transition, maintaining the global Internet’s role as an incubator for innovation and a stimulator of domestic and international economic growth, merits broad support. We owe it to future generations to assure that the Internet of tomorrow is as free, open and resilient as the Internet of today.

[Crocker is the chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers]