ICANN is lobbying hard to bring an end to its “Joint Project Agreement” (JPA) with the US Commerce Department. (The JPA is one of two tethers that ties ICANN to the US government.) Key ICANN management personnel are in Washington today and meetings are being held with industry stakeholder groups. Feelers are being sent out to other stakeholders.

ICANN’s Board Chairman, Peter Dengate Thrush, laid down a bold and clear position in his early filing of comments before the NTIA: “The JPA is no longer necessary. Concluding it is the next step in transition of the coordination of the Domain Name System (DNS) to the private sector. This step will provide continuing confidence that the original vision laid out in the White Paper is being delivered.” Although there is more to global Internet governance than ICANN, this issue deserves more attention than it seems to be getting.   more »