October 2, 1998
Honorable William M. Daley
Secretary of Commerce
c/o Karen Rose
Office of International Affairs
Room 471
National Telecommunications and
Information Administration
United States Department of Commerce
14th and Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20230
Re: Management of Internet Names and Addresses
Dear Secretary Daley:
On June 5, 1998, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration ("NTIA") of the United States Department of Commerce issued a policy statement, commonly known as the "White Paper," in which NTIA called on private sector Internet stakeholders to form a not-for-profit corporation to administer policy for the Internet name and address system. Since that time, people all over the world have been working diligently to meet NTIA's challenge, and I believe we have now reached that goal. This accomplishment is the result of an extensive process of discussions and negotiations among a large number of interested people and organizations. The process has included meetings, conferences, and most appropriately for this purpose, extensive use of the Internet. I am very pleased to say that we have reached a successful conclusion. Enclosed are documents reflecting this consensus, including copies of the Articles of Incorporation and proposed Bylaws for this new non-profit organization, which has been incorporated in California.(1) These documents reflect the consensus judgment of the global Internet community as to how to form a corporation that will include the IANA function, and in addition take on other coordination and administrative responsibilities necessary for the continued operational stability and growth of the Internet.
The organization that these documents will create is fully responsive to the criteria and specific recommendations set forth in the White Paper. In particular:
The White Paper urged that the
new corporation's organizers include "representatives of regional Internet
number registries, Internet engineers and computer scientists, domain name
registries, domain name registrars, commercial and noncommercial users,
Internet service providers, international trademark holders and Internet
experts highly respected throughout the international Internet community."
All of those and more have participated in this process, and achieving
consensus among such a broad group has proven to be both an exciting and
difficult task. While there is probably no one who is entirely satisfied with the
enclosed documents, including myself, the essence of consensus is
compromise, and it is in that spirit that almost all participants in this process
have labored. IANA's role in this has primarily been as the scribe, recording
to the best of our ability what we understood to be the community consensus
as it developed. There have been five iterations of draft documents, each
more refined and benefitting from comments and suggestions from
throughout the community. These final documents are the cumulative
reflection of those efforts, and we believe that they do in fact command the
support of a broad consensus of Internet stakeholders, private and public.
The White Paper proposed the appointment, on an interim
basis, of a diverse Initial Board of Directors who would serve for a short
period of time, and then could not again serve on the Board for a fixed period
following the election of the first permanent Board. As was the case with
respect to the organizational documents that are attached to this submission,
recommendations and suggestions for Initial Board members have been
received from around the world. The following persons, who bring a range
of skills and experience that will be invaluable in continuing the work of
creating this global consensus organization, have agreed to serve on the
Initial Board:
-- Geraldine Capdeboscq, Executive Vice President for Strategy, Technology and Partnerships, BULL. Mrs. Capdeboscq has been with BULL since 1988, serving previously as President of the Smartcards, Terminals and Securization Division.
-- George H. Conrades, Partner, Polaris Venture Partners. Mr. Conrades is the former Chief Executive Officer of BBN Corporation, and most recently GTE Executive Vice President and President, GTE Internetworking, since the acquisition of BBN by GTE in July 1997. He is a director of several companies, and a trustee of The Scripps Research Institute and the Committee for Economic Development.
-- Gregory L. Crew, Chairman, Australian Communications Industry Forum Ltd. Mr. Crew is the former Chief Executive Officer of Mercury Communications Ltd., Chairman of the Australian Information Technology Engineering Centre Ltd., and a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers. The ACIF is the organization established by the communications industry in Australia to manage its self-regulatory processes.
-- Esther Dyson, Chairman, EDventure Holdings. Ms. Dyson co-chaired the United States National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council Information Privacy and Intellectual Property subcommittee, sits on the boards of several business organizations, is a member of the board of the Electronic Freedom Foundation, the Santa Fe Institute and the Institute for East-West Studies, and serves on the advisory board of the Software Entrepreneurs Forum and the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. She is the author of Release 2.0: A design for living in the digital age.
-- Frank Fitzsimmons, Senior Vice President-Global Marketing, Dun & Bradstreet Corporation. Mr. Fitzsimmons has been with Dun & Bradstreet since 1987, and is currently responsible for the implementation of new global marketing initiatives in the areas of access systems, software, Internet applications and electronic commerce.
-- Hans Kraaijenbrink, Chairman of the Executive Board, ETNO (Association of European Public Telecommunications Network Operators). Mr. Kraaijenbrink is Manager, European Policy and Regulation for Royal KPV N.V., responsible for European and international regulatory strategic affairs.
-- Jun Murai, Professor, Faculty of Environmental Information, Keio University. Professor Murai is also the General Chairperson of the WIDE Project (an Internet research consortium), President of Japan Network Information Centre (JPNIC), an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies, United Nations University, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Internet Society.
-- Dr. Eugenio Triana, Internet Management Consultant. Dr. Triana was formerly Secretary General of Industrial Promotion and Technology in the Spanish Ministry of Industry and Energy, and President of the Licensing Executive Society (LES-Spain). He recently left the European Commission staff, where he was Deputy Director General of DG XIII, responsible for the Commission's relations with information and communications technology user interests and for coordinating policy for space and satellite development.
-- Linda S. Wilson, President, Radcliffe College. Dr. Wilson was previously Vice President for Research at the University of Michigan, and is a charter member of the National Academy of Sciences' Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
This distinguished group of individuals is both geographically diverse and possesses the mixture of technical expertise, management experience and consensus-building skills called for by the White Paper and required to move this process forward. Additional biographical information for each of the proposed Initial Board members is attached to this submission. Finally, in response to the White Paper, Article V.1 of the Bylaws provides that the members of the Initial Board may not serve again on the Board until two years have elapsed following the end of their terms.
The White Paper suggested that the new
corporation could rely on "separate, diverse, and robust name and number
councils responsible for developing, reviewing, and recommending for the
Board's approval policy related to matters within each council's competence."
Article VI of the Bylaws accomplishes this objective by creating three
Supporting Organizations -- for Addresses, Protocols, and Domain Names --
which are delegated the primary responsibility for developing and
recommending substantive policies and procedures regarding those matters
within their individual scope.
. The White Paper recommended a system for
electing the permanent Board of Directors that preserves, as much as
possible, the tradition of bottom-up governance of the Internet. To this end,
Article V.4 of the Bylaws provides for a Board that will have a total of
nineteen members: three to be selected by the Address Supporting
Organization; three to be selected by the Domain Name Supporting
Organization; three to be selected by the Protocol Supporting Organization;
nine to be elected "At Large"; and the president of the corporation. Each of
the Supporting Organizations is required by the Bylaws to be an open,
inclusive and transparent organization, and to allow broad participation in
both its substantive activities and in the process for choosing the directors
that will be selected by that Supporting Organization. At Large Board
members will be elected through a process that will rely on nominations from
Internet users and other participants. Thus, the Board will be entirely made
up of individuals selected by the persons that operate and use the Internet,
fully reflecting the policies advanced by the White Paper.
. The White Paper suggested that
the Initial Board be directed "to establish a system for electing a Board of
Directors for the new corporation that insures that the new corporation's
Board of Directors reflects the geographical and functional diversity of the
Internet, and is sufficiently flexible to permit evolution to reflect changes in
the constituency of Internet stakeholders." As described above, directors will
be elected by a combination of specialized Supporting Organizations and
directly by an at large membership; this structure is directly responsive to the
White Paper's call for functional diversity and evolutionary flexibility. With
respect to geographical diversity, Article V.6 of the Bylaws provides that no
more than one-half of the directors may be residents of any one geographic
region, and no more than two of the directors nominated by each Supporting
Organization may be residents of any one geographic region. To ensure that
the Board reflects the likely evolution of the Internet, Article V.6 also requires
the Board to revisit this issue at least every three years so as to preserve the
principle of geographic diversity.
. The White Paper urged that the new
corporation should be governed on the basis of a "sound and transparent
decision-making process, which protects against capture by a self-interested
faction." In response, Article 4 of the Articles of Incorporation requires that
the corporation "operate for the benefit of the Internet community as a
whole," and also contains a broad commitment of the corporation to "open
and transparent processes." Article III of the Bylaws, entitled "Transparency
and Procedures," adds to this commitment with a requirement that the
corporation and its subordinate entities "operate to the maximum extent
feasible in an open and transparent manner and consistent with procedures
designed to ensure fairness." In addition, Article III requires that the activities
of the corporation be broadly disclosed and widely publicized on the Internet
and otherwise, including the prompt publication of minutes of all meetings.
In addition, prior to the adoption of any policies that substantially affect the
operation of the Internet or third parties, the Board will provide public notice
on its Web site explaining the nature of, and inviting comment on, the
proposed policies, and is required to publish the reasons supporting any
such action that it takes.
. The White Paper stated that official
government representation on the Board of Directors should be restricted
without precluding governments and intergovernmental organizations from
participating. Accordingly, Article V.5 of the Bylaws precludes officials of
national governments or multinational entities from serving as directors;
however, Article 7.3 provides for a Governmental Advisory Committee that
will consist of representatives of governments and multinational entities and
will have the ability to consider, and provide advice to the Board concerning,
activities of the corporation as they relate to concerns of governments.
. The White Paper proposed that the new
corporation be headquartered and incorporated in the United States as a
not-for-profit corporation, with arrangements made with current IANA staff to
provide continuity and expertise over the course of the transition. In order
to maintain the stability of the Internet, the new corporation has been
established as a California not-for-profit corporation with its principal office
in Los Angeles, although the Bylaws contemplate that offices might be
opened outside the United States in the future. Arrangements are in place
with current IANA staff to provide for the transition, and discussions are
underway with the University of Southern California, where the IANA function
has been located, that would facilitate that transition and maintain the
stability of current operations.
. Consistent with the White Paper's
recommendations, these incorporating documents do not attempt to make
policy with respect to the controversial issues that prompted the issuance of
the White Paper in the first instance. For example, issues such as creating
new generic top-level domains, establishing a competitive registrar system,
and addressing trademark controversies are deferred for consideration by
the new corporation.
This organization will be unique in the world -- a non-governmental organization with significant responsibilities for administering what is becoming an important global resource. This is fully in keeping with the historical roots and character of the Internet, but it obviously presents real challenges if it is to function effectively. The experience of creating these organizational documents, which required an extremely diverse group of stakeholders to put aside their differences and concentrate on the job at hand -- recognizing that debate over those differences was merely being postponed -- is instructive and encouraging. The success of this effort is something about which all who were involved can be proud, but more importantly it bodes well for the future work that must yet take place before this organization is fully functional. There are many challenges left for the days and years to come, but the consensus that developed around these documents provides considerable promise that those challenges can also be overcome.
Should you agree that the enclosed materials satisfy the conditions set forth in the White Paper, as I am confident you will, I would welcome the opportunity to facilitate contacts between your office and the new organization to discuss the beginning of the transition process.
Sincerely,
Jon Postel
Enclosures
cc (w/encs.): Ira C. Magaziner
R.J. Beckwith Burr
1. While the organization has been formally incorporated, it has not yet elected a board of directors or adopted bylaws, and currently intends to refrain from doing so until the completion of your review of the enclosed materials.