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1Welcome Session
2Monday, 14 March 2011
3ICANN Meeting
4San Francisco, California.
5
6 >> Ladies and gentlemen, if you would be kind enough to take your
7seats, we'll begin our welcome ceremony here, Silicon Valley, San
8Francisco.
9
10 Please take your seats, and if you would be kind enough to put your
11cell phones on vibrate so we don't hear them during the program, it
12would be greatly appreciated.  
13
14 Ladies and gentlemen, once again, if you would be kind enough to
15take your seats, we'll be able to begin our welcome ceremony.  Thank
16you.  
17
18 Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats for the welcome
19ceremony.  I'd like to introduce at this moment chairman, ICANN board
20of directors, Peter Dengate Thrush.
21
22 [ Applause ]
23
24 >>MR. PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you and good morning, everyone.  
25
26 On behalf of the ICANN board, I want to welcome you all to San
27Francisco and the Silicon Valley for ICANN's 40th -- 40th! --
28international public meeting.  It's great to be here today.  
29
30 And as they say life begins at 40, so ICANN's underway.
31
32 And it's fitting that we're marking a milestone like our 40th
33international meeting near to Silicon Valley, since Silicon Valley
34and the Internet itself have kind of grown up together.
35
36 Silicon Valley can lay some claim to being the birthplace of the
37Internet itself.  It was just down the road at Stanford University
38where a young assistant professor named Vinton Cerf was based while
39he worked in partnership with Bob Kahn on something called TCP/IP and
40from that very beginning, Silicon Valley has been at the heart of the
41Internet, the technology it has spawned, and the change that this has
42wrought to the entire globe.
43
44 Think now of the then-unimaginable consequences that came from that
45work in the early days.  
46
47 And so the Bay Area itself has become Silicon Valley, with one of
48the largest concentrations technology workers in the world.  In fact,
49close to 30% of people in the area work in high-tech and the region
50itself drives innovation.  
51
52 San Jose was home to 3,867 utility patents filed in 2005, and 1881
53alone from Sunnyvale.  
54
55 So that represented first and second spot in the United States, the
56country itself with the highest number of patent filings in the
57world.  And fully a third of the venture capital in the United States
58is invested right here in the valley.
59
60 And a few companies, the names of which may be known to some of
61you, have also grown up in this process:  Juniper Networks, Cisco
62Systems, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google.  
63
64 All, in some way, help individuals and companies connect to each
65other, and they each, like so many of their neighbors, are harnessing
66the power and the potential of the Internet.  
67
68 Each of them was an unimagined consequence when the first TIP work
69was done all those years ago, and their companies and their range of
70products and offerings and their technologies themselves were
71unimagined, even 40 meetings ago.  The 13 years ago when ICANN was
72created to coordinate the domain name system.
73
74 And so these kinds of unintended consequences are why we're here in
75the Silicon Valley this week.
76
77 Since our inception and through the course of the 40 meetings,
78ICANN has had a very clear role.  We're here to preserve the
79operationability [sic] of the Internet, to promote competition as
80appropriate, to achieve broad representation of the global Internet
81community, and to develop policies appropriate to our mission through
82our bottom-up consensus-driven processes.
83
84 We're not here to develop new technologies for the marketplace. 
85We're not here to create new consumer, business, or industrial
86products.  But we are here to enhance and expand that platform that
87makes so much of all this possible.
88
89 And that's the truly amazing work of ICANN and the Internet.  Our
90work builds a platform that unleashes that kind of innovation.  
91
92 The last time we got together as a community was in Cartagena in
93Colombia, and let's just stop for a moment and recall what a fabulous
94meeting that was and thank again our hosts from Colombia.
95
96 [ Applause ]
97
98 For those of you that didn't go, let me recommend a truly wonderful
99city.
100
101 At that meeting, I told you that the launch of the Russian
102Federation's IDN ccTLD had exceeded their expectations, and let me
103confirm that they still are.  You'll recall they had expected a
104hundred thousand registrations in their first year.  They now have
105close to 800,000 since November.  And we've seen IDN applications
106approved and launched or nearly launched in China and India and the
107Russian Federation, Algeria, Singapore, and Oman, just to name a
108few.  
109
110 And this week we'll be talking about the next stage for
111internationalized domain names.  How they move from the ccTLD arena
112into the generic top-level domain space.  And so millions of people
113all over the world are anxiously awaiting the availability of a TLD
114entirely in their own script.
115
116 And we'll be getting in rooms large and small -- we're back in this
117room later on this afternoon -- over the next few days to talk about
118how we can keep the ball moving on the new gTLD project.  Because
119that, too, is about building a foundation for further innovation.
120
121 We've already seen possible proponents of new TLDs talking about
122new ways of building their businesses, attracting customers,
123connecting people through these new Internet extensions, and they're
124coming up with ideas also that we couldn't have imagined a few short
125years ago.
126
127 So there's probably a company a few miles from where you're sitting
128today trying to figure out the next big thing and how new gTLDs can
129make that happen.
130
131 So our work this week is to make sure that the platform is there
132for that innovation and those ideas and innovation and ideas not yet
133imagined.
134
135 And we're going to be talking about safety and security, about the
136innovations we require if the platform we're building is going to be
137there, reliable and safe, for future innovators.
138
139 And that's a key role for ICANN and all of you in ICANN, because
140we're -- there are a lot of, let's call them, innovators as well who
141are working against us, looking for security holes and opportunities
142to compromise the system.
143
144 So this week is when you can see in action some of the key goals
145built into the ICANN DNA since our very first meeting held in
146Singapore in 1999:  Preserving stability, promoting competition,
147achieving global representation, and developing policies in our
148bottom-up consensus-based way.
149
150 So I want to thank each and every one of you for joining us here
151today and in this week, as we continue that incredibly important
152work.  You're here because you're dedicated to the future of this
153shared platform we call the Internet.
154
155 You believe, as I do, in a single global interoperable Internet.
156
157 And if you're like me, you're here because you believe in the
158Internet's ability to unlock the unimagined potential and the
159possibilities for everyone.  It's an enormous task but it's rewarding
160and exciting, and the buzz in the room as we got here and as we
161started is a testament to that already.
162
163 In the past week, we've seen the incredible power of Mother Nature
164in the devastating earthquake and its aftermath in Japan, and our
165thoughts are with everyone in that country and around the world
166worried about the future, about their families and friends and the
167other tragic consequences.
168
169 But just as we saw that awesome power, we've also seen the power of
170the Internet and how it can help people to deal with that disaster. 
171People have used the Internet and its myriad of platforms and
172connections in incredible ways:  to warn about dangers, to marshal
173emergency efforts, to track down family and friends.  And some of you
174have been kind enough to contact me over the past few weeks about the
175recent earthquake also in Christchurch, New Zealand, and I can tell
176you there that just in the last few days, using Facebook, 15,000
177students were mobilized who turned up with shovels and went to work
178in Christchurch shoveling the liquefaction that's occurred as part of
179the damage.  I don't know whether you realize that Christchurch sits
180on nearly half a kilometer of silt and once the earthquake struck,
181all that just turned basically to jelly and bubbled up through the
182houses, through the streets, through the buildings.  
183
184 So 15,000 students turned up with shovels and helped to clear that.  
185
186 And as they departed, another Internet-generated exercise, the
187farmers of the Canterbury region, came to town with their utes and
188their trucks, their utilities, and they shoveled all this mess into
189the back of their trucks and took it away.  
190
191 So we're seeing the use of the Internet in that very powerful way. 
192Incredible connections and communications have been possible and
193they've been possible in large part because of the single global
194Internet.
195
196 It's an important reminder of the things we make possible.
197
198 All right.  Well, those of you who have been to other opening
199ceremonies will know that I've made a practice of opening ICANN
200meetings in the local language.
201
202 [ Laughter ]
203
204 There was some sympathy in that, I'm sure, for the people who had
205to listen to me in Arabic and Swahili, French, and Spanish and other
206languages.  So I'm delighted to be in the U.S. and not to have to put
207you through anything other than the torture of my very southern
208accent.  
209
210 What we're going to do today instead is introduce some very famous
211U.S. citizens, as we're here in the U.S., who have been intimately
212involved with ICANN since the very beginning, and I've had the
213pleasure of working at some stage with all of them.  Ira Magaziner,
214very briefly, in a telephone call as we were first arguing about the
215shape of ICANN, a bylaws discussion back in I think late 1998. 
216Obviously Vint Cerf, who was the chairman of the board for such a
217long time at ICANN during some incredibly formative and crucial
218years.  Larry Strickling, who I've had the pleasure of working with
219on the ICANN accountability, transparency -- accountability and
220transparency team.  And Larry, of course, is the cosignatory of one
221of our most important documents, the Affirmation of Commitments.  
222
223 And Andrew McLaughlin, who I first worked with on a thing called
224the IRAC, the Independent Review Advisory Committee, right back in
2251999 when Andrew was on the staff.  So we're going to hear from
226people who have been intimately connected with the past and the
227future of ICANN.
228
229 So ladies and gentlemen I'd like to call now on my colleague and
230good friend, ICANN's president and CEO, Rod Beckstrom, to introduce
231the next guest.  
232
233 Rod.
234
235 [ Applause ]
236
237 >>MR. ROD BECKSTROM:  Thank you, Peter, for your articulate remarks
238as ever and we hope all of you will be joining us in Singapore in
239June too because we might be having some celebrations there to thank
240Peter for all his outstanding contributions.
241
242 It's now my honor to introduce Ira Magaziner.
243
244 Ira has had a long and illustrious career, often called cerebral,
245and I will add, with great cause.  I know from firsthand experience I
246had the honor to serve as a co-chairman of a privacy high-technology
247company with Ira about 10 years ago.  Ira is a valedictorian at Brown
248University.  He attended Balliol College at Oxford as a Rhodes
249scholar.  He has honorary doctorate degrees from Brown University,
250University of Rhode Island, New England Institute of Technology, and
251the University of Maryland.  
252
253 He's now chairman of the William J. Clinton Foundation's
254international development activities and initiatives.  He was senior
255advisor to the president for policy development in the Clinton White
256House, where he shaped many important programs for this country and
257that affect the world.  He helped drive the policy processes that led
258to ICANN's establishment, together with participants from the global
259Internet community, as Peter referred to.
260
261 He developed a reputation for digging into the nitty-gritty of
262technology while considering the big-picture impacts on society.
263
264 He became an advocate for the Internet industry in the global
265marketplace and for ICANN.  
266
267 Ira, welcome.  We look forward to your remarks.
268
269 [ Applause ]
270
271 >>IRA MAGAZINER:  Thank you very much for inviting me.  It's the
272first time I've been to an ICANN event since forming it.  I figured
273that by now it was safe and I wouldn't have --
274
275 [ Laughter ]
276
277 -- too many things thrown at me but I'm not sure.
278
279 I'm here today to talk about ancient times, when dinosaurs ruled
280the earth.
281
282 It was a time before Facebook, before Twitter, before WiFi, and
283even before Google.
284
285 It was a time when you could download a movie through your 56K dial-
286up connection if you had a few days, when your large heavy cell phone
287did not speak Internet, and when two-thirds of the people in the
288world could not make a telephone call because they didn't have a
289landline coming to where they lived.
290
291 It was a time when there were more people on the Minitel in France
292than on the Internet in the whole world.  Okay?
293
294 And when all the people on the Internet in Korea could fit into one
295small hotel room.  I know because I met with them.
296
297 [ Laughter ]
298
299 And there were only a couple.
300
301 It was also a time when adults still knew more about information
302technology than their 10-year-old children.
303
304 [ Laughter ]
305
306 Which has not been the case since then.
307
308 [ Laughter ]
309
310 So these ancient times that I'm talking about weren't millions or
311thousands or hundreds of years ago.  They were 15 years ago, in 1996.
31215 years ago.
313
314 In early 1995, then-President Clinton had asked me to head a
315cabinet level group in the U.S. government to help decide what steps
316he could take if he were reelected in 1996 to improve the U.S.
317economy.  And at our initial meeting, we listed 10 different things
318to look at that we thought could be important.  By the beginning of
3191996 we had actually decided on a different list.
320
321 Basically, what we had decided was that there were three
322technologies that had been developed recently that could offer the
323potential for huge economic growth:  The Internet, the sequencing of
324the human genome, and advances in renewable energy.  And of those
325three, we thought that the Internet could move the fastest and so by
326then we had decided to focus on the Internet and trying to create a
327global environment where the Internet could take off and be a true
328economic force.
329
330 The last escape we confronted was fraught with opportunity but also
331with tremendous uncertainty.
332
333 Many entrepreneurs and companies wanted to invest huge sums to
334build the Internet economy, but they were worried by the lack of a
335predictable environment.
336
337 At that time, some of you may remember there were proposals in the
338EU and Canada to tax every bit of transmission on the Internet, and
339they were being taken seriously.  There were proposals to put tariffs
340in the World Trade Organization on commerce done by the Internet.
341
342 Many governments, including the U.S. government, we're looking to
343censor the Internet.  Regulators in the EU and in the U.S. wanted to
344have government set technical standards for the Internet, regulate
345the use of digital signatures, restrict the new field of Internet
346telephony, set rigid guidelines who could and couldn't deliver
347Internet services, and regulate prices for every Internet activity,
348much as was done with telephony.
349
350 There were no agreed-upon ways to protect intellectual property. 
351That was the landscape we confronted.
352
353 Many foreign governments did not want to adopt the Internet because
354they viewed it as under U.S. government control and there were a
355large number of lawsuits, which I'll talk about in a minute, working
356their way through different courts around the world that would have
357broken up the Internet and put jurisdictional restrictions on it that
358would have prevented interoperability across countries or even
359states, and many of the judges who were sitting in judgment on these
360lawsuits had no clue what the Internet was.
361
362 The security of the Internet was very uncertain.  Some of the root
363servers were in university basements where anyone could walk in and
364pull the plug.  I know because I visited some of these sites
365unannounced and just walked alone into rooms where they were housed.
366
367 We realized that the Internet had enormous potential to unlock
368human freedom, economically, politically, and socially, because its
369very designed empowered individuals by allowing them to implement
370their ideas directly, without having to go through established
371hierarchies and bureaucracies.  The potential seemed limitless.  But
372we also realized that the future of the Internet was very precarious.
373Balanced on a knife's edge between two extremes that could delay its
374advent or even destroy it.
375
376 On the one side, if the Internet was too anarchic with no
377guidelines, it could degenerate into a constant state of
378unpredictable, wild west shootouts, scaring away the decent folk who
379wanted to invest and help build it.
380
381 On the other hand, if the normal forces of bureaucracy took over
382with a mass of government regulations and slow intergovernmental
383bodies governing the Internet, the creativity of the Internet could
384be stifled.
385
386 We had to find a way to allow the Internet to operate in a constant
387state of creative chaos, but with some ground rules that would give
388those investing huge sums in it some degree of predictability.
389
390 There needed to be enough cooperation and rules so that the
391Internet would be secure, stable, and resilient, but this had to be
392done in such a way as to allow as much freedom as possible, for the
393users of the Internet to create standards, content, modes of access,
394and economic activity without government interference.
395
396 So we established a policy framework to try to accomplish these
397goals in 1996 and '97.  We passed an Internet tax freedom act that
398allowed Internet commerce to develop free of taxes.  We kept the
399Federal Communications Commission in the United States and the ITU
400globally away from regulating the Internet and the Internet
401telephony.  We got government in the World Trade Organization not to
402put any tariffs on electronic commerce.  We struck down attempts to
403impose censorship on the Internet.  Instead, empowering parents and
404other consumers with controls they could exercise to block content
405they did not want to see.  We allowed marketplace solutions on
406privacy to emerge.  We allowed the Internet users to set standards. 
407We established a global agreement to protect intellectual property. 
408But in not too restrictive a way.
409
410 Finally, we recognized that there had to be some coordination of
411the Internet in order to ensure its security, stability, and
412resiliency.
413
414 The question we faced was how to do this in a way that could
415operate with Internet speed, be representative of the wishes of the
416Internet community and its various constituencies, be acceptable to
417governments, and allow for the rapid growth of the Internet that we
418hoped would happen.
419
420 After a two-year process of consultation with stakeholders of all
421sort all over the world, we formed ICANN.
422
423 Now, for those of you who were not around then, let me talk about
424what preceded ICANN.
425
426 At the time, IANA as it was called was housed in a small office at
427the University of Southern California, and run by a wonderful man
428named Jon Postel under a contract the university had with the U.S.
429defense department which had been involved in starting the Internet.
430
431 I'm not sure this is true.  There's some of you who may remember. 
432But legend has it that at a meeting of the Internet Society when the
433Internet had less than a thousand members, someone suggested that
434they needed a person to keep track of everyone's address and Jon
435raised his hand.  Jon, for those of you who remember him, had a long
436scruffy beard, wore sandals and hippie clothing and was a rebel and a
437free spirit at heart.
438
439 Because of his appearance, it took me hours of pleading to get him
440through security at the White House when I invited him to have lunch.
441
442 [ Laughter ]
443
444 And I remember when I had the honor of speaking at his funeral, I
445thought that day when he was at the White House having lunch with me
446with all these self-important cabinet secretaries sitting around that
447a hundred years from now, nobody would remember any of those cabinet
448secretaries, but they would remember Jon Postel as one of the
449inventors of the Internet.
450
451 [ Applause ]
452
453 It was Jon that decided what top-level prefixes were for countries
454and who in each country should have the responsibility for
455administering the Internet.  And he did all this from his small
456office where the piles of paper and books lying around reflected both
457his brilliance and also the creativity chaos of the Internet.  To get
458from the door to the one visitor's chair in his office required
459agility and extraordinary balance just to navigate around the rubble
460on the floor.
461
462 I often thought when I visited his office about how some of the big
463corporate Titans that were about to invest billions in the Internet
464would have felt if they knew that all the routing for the Internet
465was taking place in that office.
466
467 The root server was run by a company called Network Solutions in
468Virginia, which under a contract with the Commerce Department had a
469virtual monopoly on assigning domain names.  They received the
470addresses from Jon and entered them.  But at the time, Jon and the
471leadership of Network Solutions did not really like each other, so
472their rapport was a bit tenuous.  I remember when the idea for ICANN
473first arose, and it came after a particularly difficult week where
474the following occurred.
475
476 The head of DARPA, the defense advanced research products agency
477which had the contract for the IANA called me, saying that no longer
478would it let the contract for IANA when it expired.  They wanted out.
479
480 The president of the university of southern California called
481saying that they could not take the lawsuits that were being directed
482against them and wanted out of their contract.  Our legal counsel
483described over 50 lawsuits all over the world that could tear the
484Internet apart.  A delegation from the International
485Telecommunication Union, after a dozen years of opposing the adoption
486of the Internet protocols, approached us demanding to take over the
487Internet.  A delegation of U.S. Congressmen and senators insisted
488that the U.S. government had created the Internet and should never
489give up complete control of it.  Several delegations of
490representatives from over 100 leading I.T. and media companies and 10
491trade associations visited saying that Internet technical
492coordination and security had to be brought into a more predictable
493global environment before they would invest money in it.
494
495 And the EU delegation said that they would pursue their own
496relation of the Internet routing system unless the U.S. changed its
497policies.  Representatives from the Internet Society that I had
498dinner with told us that the Internet Society controlled the Internet
499and they would resist any attempts by the U.S. government or any
500government to take control.  And the U.S. government security task
501force on the Internet delivered a report to us saying that as
502currently organized, the Internet was in danger of disintegrating
503from the lawsuits and lack of agreed-upon coordination mechanism. 
504And in addition to that, my kid caught a flu which I also caught, so
505it was a wonderful week.
506
507 [ Laughter ]
508
509 So we clearly had to do something.  We clearly had to do something.
510
511 Now, the idea of ICANN might have been a result of that flu, but I
512hope not.
513
514 [ Laughter ]
515
516 But the idea of ICANN was unprecedented, but we felt it offered the
517best chance to allow for the Internet to flourish.
518
519 If we left the coordination of the Internet DNS to an
520intergovernmental body, we feared that it would get bogged down in
521bureaucracy and approvals would move at a glacial place.  Personally
522I'm a believer that governments play an important role in societies,
523and I'm a supporter of the United Nations.  I work closely with U.N.
524agencies in my current work, leading efforts at the Clinton
525Foundation on Global Health and Climate Change, but the slow and
526bureaucratic processes of government and multilateral government
527bodies are not the best way to coordinate a fast-moving, creative,
528chaotic medium like the Internet.  They move too slowly.  They're too
529risk-averse.  They officially represent only governments and not
530other constituencies.  And just in general, they're too cumbersome.
531
532 On the other hand, the Internet could not be coordinated by a
533normal private entity.  There must be public accountability to
534Internet users and investors.
535
536 There also has to be accountability to governments.
537
538 The idea of setting up a private nonprofit organization that would
539be organized to be a grass-roots organization of technical experts
540accountable to Internet users and constituencies and be recognized by
541governments but not controlled by governments was risky.  That had
542not been done before on a global scale.  We knew it would be
543difficult and somewhat messy, but we thought that it offered the best
544chance of success.
545
546 It would have a government advisory group that could ensure that
547the views of collective governments were at the forefront, but they
548could not control it.
549
550 It would provide a strong focal point to take all of the inevitable
551lawsuits that would continue to come with any decisions made about
552the routing system for the Internet.  It would be flexible enough to
553evolve as the Internet evolved.  It would be at the same time strong
554but not too strong.  It would have its own independent funding source
555for an assessment on domain name registrations but it would never get
556too big and its legitimacy would have to be renewed regularly by its
557ability to persuade the various constituency groups that it remained
558the best solution.
559
560 This was the idea that became ICANN.
561
562 We identified Vint Cerf as someone to lead it initially because he
563had credibility with all the constituencies.  I'm not sure he's ever
564forgiven us to this day, but we thought it was the best shot that the
565Internet had.
566
567 [ Laughter ]
568
569 Now, not everything has gone as we had planned.  ICANN has made
570some mistakes as an organization.  It's far from perfect.  But
571overall, we think the idea has worked.  The political, policy, and
572technical controversies that threatened to stifle or even ruin the
573Internet in its infancy in the late 1990s did not ruin the Internet. 
574The Internet is flourishing.
575
576 When, in the late 1990s I used to make speeches around the world
577touting the future of the Internet, I was widely mocked for
578predicting that by 2010, there would be 1 billion people using the
579Internet, and Internet commerce would exceed a few hundred billion
580dollars a year.
581
582 Experts and political leaders alike said I was wrong.  It would be
583impossible to go from 16 million people -- which is where we were
584then -- to 1 billion people in just 15 years.  They argued it would
585be politically and technically impossible for the Internet to expand
586that fast.
587
588 I was accused of being a big thinker and a dreamer.
589
590 Well, I was wrong, but not because of what the critics said.  I was
591wrong because I did not think or dream big enough.
592
593 Today, there are almost 2 billion Internet users.  There are over
5943.7 billion IP addresses.  And over 129 million domain names.  And
595electronic commercial has grown to almost a trillion dollars per year.
596
597 The Internet has spawned a complete revolution politically,
598economically, and socially, and it has all worked pretty smoothly. 
599The technical and diplomatic work of ICANN and IETF and other bodies
600have enabled this enormous growth to occur with hardly a glitch.
601
602 Once -- one has not read stories of legal or political battles or
603technical difficulties bringing the Internet to a halt or preventing
604it from growing.  And I want to pause just to reflect on that.  That
605is extraordinary.  If you think about this enormous growth and the
606way it's spread around the world and all the commerce being done and
607so on, and even though inside of ICANN it must seem like you're
608having a controversy every week, the fact of the matter is the
609Internet has flourished.  It has grown and flourished.
610
611 And I can tell you sitting where we were in the late 1990s, that
612was not at all a foregone conclusion.  In fact, it seemed like a
613likely thing that could go bad and not happen.  
614
615 Now, would things have worked as well if we would not have created
616ICANN and did the things we did?  Maybe.  You can always speculate. 
617But the reality is for all its shortcomings, ICANN has not prevented
618this resolution; and by most accounts, it has played an important and
619positive role in helping to enable it.
620
621 So the reason for my history lesson today is to remind you all that
622the Internet almost broke down before it really took off in the late
6231990s.  And it almost broke down in legal, political and policy
624disputes that could have fragmented it, inhibit its use and, the very
625least, delayed it and made it more difficult to access.
626
627 While ICANN has its faults, I urge you to work actively to improve
628it rather than tearing it down or allowing it to be replaced with a
629more stifling bureaucratic alternative.
630
631 Now, I remember my last day at the White House.  A good friend of
632mine said, The good news is that for the first time in six years you
633will be able to say what you really think.  The bad news is that for
634the first time in six years nobody will care what you really think.
635
636 [ Laughter ]
637
638 But at the risk of having that be true and having not care what I
639think, let me just finish by offering a couple of suggestions.  And I
640offer them in the spirit of the success that I believe ICANN has been
641and the greater success that it can be.
642
643 I think there are things that ICANN should do to work better and
644that the reaffirmation of principles issued in September of 2009
645offers a good basis for making these improvements.  And I think
646having talked this past few weeks to people at ICANN, people at the
647U.S. government and elsewhere, I think that people are aware that
648these improvements can be made and are working to do it.  And I would
649just give support to that effort.
650
651 One is ICANN always needs to work hard to be more international
652and, in particular, to include more people in its leadership and
653management from developing countries around the world.  The Internet
654has become much more widely distributed since we were involved 15
655years ago and will become even more widely distributed still.  And as
656somebody who now is working on AIDS in Africa and elsewhere and
657interacting a lot with governments in poorer countries, it's crucial
658that they become more and more a part of this structure as much as
659possible.
660
661 Number two, ICANN must take great pains to operate in an efficient
662manner.  It is a public service organization with a technical mission
663that should be frugal, and it must always have humility in the way it
664works.  Its leaders must avoid trying to build an empire.  I think
665you will be best served by doing what you need to be doing, to be
666focused on but not build something that's too big an empire because a
667bigger empire becomes a bigger target.
668
669 Number three -- (applause) -- ICANN must be incorruptible and fully
670transparent in what it does seeking consensus and explaining its
671decisions fully.  There are too many disparate interests on the
672Internet to avoid controversy, okay?  You are going to have
673controversy.  You are going to do things that are unpopular by
674definition.  Not only is this a very diverse community, but it is a
675diverse community of people with strong personalities.  That's
676something I learned very early on.  
677
678 And so you are going to have lots of controversy, lots of people
679shouting at each other, lots of ideas, lots of ideas.  And you are
680never going to be able to get full consensus.  But you ought to try
681to get as much as consensus as possible all the time.  And where you
682don't have consensus, you need full transparency and accountability
683in explaining your decisions because even that way if people disagree
684with you, they can understand the logic behind what you did.  So
685consensus will not always be possible, but you must do the best to
686seek as much consensus as possible and then explain your decisions.
687
688 Fourth, ICANN should always look to empower Internet users.  Do not
689make a rule that limits what people can do on the Internet unless it
690is absolutely necessary for the Internet to function in a
691predictable, safe and secure way.  
692
693 And, finally, I will offer this to my successors in the U.S.
694government, that they should exercise their role in full consultation
695with other governments and in a light-handed manner.
696
697 Now, I think if those kinds of principles are followed -- and I do
698think there are people of goodwill at ICANN and in the U.S.
699government and elsewhere interested in following those principles, I
700think ICANN will continue to flourish and the Internet will flourish.
701
702 ICANN processes will always be a bit messy.  Grassroots democracy
703is by its nature contentious.  While ICANN can and must improve, we
704must all work within it to improve it rather than to try to tear it
705down or replace it.  With all its faults, it has worked.  The
706Internet has flourished.  
707
708 The wonder of the Internet is that any individual in the world with
709any idea is free to introduce that idea to 2 billion people without
710having to ask permission.  If he or she can gain a following, that
711individual can build a huge business, introduce new art, music or
712literature to the world, form a global social movement or improve the
713way the Internet itself works.
714
715 The Internet gives anybody in the world a chance to change the
716world.  You as current stewards of Internet coordination and policy
717have a responsibility to ensure that parochial, commercial or
718political concerns and technical problems are sorted out so that the
719world remains safe for the Internet and so that the human freedom and
720empowerment the Internet brings can continue to flourish.
721
722 I wish for you to have the wisdom, tolerance and patience to do
723your job well.  Thank you.
724
725 [ Applause ]
726
727 >>MR. PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Wow.  Thank you, Ira.  Thanks for your
728comments today, and thanks for your vision all those years ago,
729particularly under the stressful conditions of that particular week.
730
731 You helped start ICANN and the Internet community on the path that
732moved the coordination of the Internet's names and numbers out into
733the global community.  You helped turn this platform for global
734connection and innovation into a shared responsibility.  We wouldn't
735be here this week if you and the U.S. administration of the day had
736not seen the potential of the Internet and the possibility for great
737innovations and ideas spawning from it and how freeing that platform
738up would make it a global foundation for innovation.  So thank you
739again and thank you for the encouragement to everyone to continue
740participating in ICANN.
741
742 [ Applause ]
743
744 Thank you.
745
746 So now it is my great privilege to welcome someone who helped seize
747the opportunity created with ICANN standing.  I have already
748mentioned very briefly the work Vint Cerf did just down the road at
749Stanford University.  And I had the honor for many years to work with
750Vint on what you might call the buildout phase of ICANN.  
751
752 His eight years on the ICANN board, the last seven of them as
753chair, Vint helped navigate ICANN through those early years and the
754growing pains that come along with that stage.  Since leaving the
755board, of course, he has continued to live up to his living legend
756status in the Internet world through his work at Google and through
757his work with the Jet Propulsion Labs on the interplanetary Internet.
758And as always, his ideas and enthusiasm are helping connect to the
759future, unimagined for so many of us but always imagined by Vint. 
760Please join me in welcoming a good friend, Vint Cerf.
761
762 [ Applause ]
763
764 >>VINT CERF:  Good morning, everyone.  It is a real pleasure to
765come back and see so many faces -- familiar faces.  And I hope to
766meet some new ones as well.  It feels like a long time since I
767stepped down as chairman only three years ago.  
768
769 Peter, I appreciate very much your undertaking the task of leading
770this organization further into the future.
771
772 I'd like to respond momentarily to something -- two things that Ira
773mentioned.  First of all, Jon Postel's responsibility as the IANA
774actually started much, much earlier.  He was first the numbers czar
775starting in 1969 when the ARPANET was underway and Steve Crocker
776issued the first request for comment.  Jon undertook to keep track of
777a lot of the protocol parameters and the allocations of address space
778back then.  And then as time went on, as the Internet TCP/IP
779protocols were used, he expanded that role.  So he had been doing a
780function like this for a good fraction of his career.
781
782 The other observation, I appreciate very much your comments, but I
783have to tell you that -- remind you anyway that Esther Dyson was the
784first chairman of ICANN and undertook that role because nobody else
785would.  She was an impressive act to follow as I assumed the role in
7862000.  And second, Mike Roberts, of course, acted as the first CEO.  
787
788 I did have the pleasure of participating in the inaugural meeting
789of the board at which Esther was elected and Mike Roberts was
790confirmed as CEO.  I was not a member of the board at that time.  I
791was simply a visitor.
792
793 Finally, I wanted to make an observation -- a generic observation
794about why the Internet and all the institutions surrounding it have
795managed to function as -- despite all the stromengen (phonetic). 
796That's because they are very loosely coupled.  This whole system is
797designed around relatively loose coupling and standardization.  
798
799 If it were not for that, I think it would be easily too brittle to
800survive.  So this loose coupling of organizations and networks and
801protocols and everything else really has given it a longevity that it
802couldn't otherwise have.
803
804 I, too, represent the dinosaur period in history, so I'm the second
805talking dinosaur.  No insult intended, Ira.  But I do want to mention
806a few things about the history, not only of ICANN but of Internet in
807general and the United States' role in it.
808
809 The project began with support from the Defense Advanced Research
810Projects Agency in 1973 and, in fact, preceding that, it was the
811ARPANET Project starting in 1968.  But as time went on,
812responsibility for this system devolved from DARPA to the Defense
813Communications Agency which is now called DISA and then to the
814National Science Foundation and then ultimately to the Department of
815Commerce.  And in those transitions, the United States government
816reduced its position, its authority, its decision-making activity
817with regard to Internet.  This is a continuous, essentially,
818relegation or delegation of responsibility away from the government
819and into the private sector.
820
821 You can see some of this evidenced in the relationships between the
822Department of Commerce and ICANN which began with a procurement
823contract for the IANA function and Memorandum of Understanding.  The
824procurement contract still exists.  The Memorandum of Understanding
825has been replaced by an Affirmation of Commitments that evolved out
826of the interactions of ICANN, the Department of Commerce and ICANN's
827general operation.
828
829 So this creation of ICANN that Ira played such a key role in has
830continued on a track towards privatization of the Internet's
831infrastructure and the public-private policy development which is
832part of the ICANN process today.
833
834 So I don't want to spend a great deal of time this morning -- I
835know we have a lot to do, but I wanted to offer a few thoughts that
836come to mind about the immediate future.  
837
838 There exists, as you know, a procurement contract and I believe
839that that concept of procuring service from ICANN really ought to
840change to become a cooperative agreement because I believe that
841format expresses more correctly the relationship between ICANN and
842the Department of Commerce.  I still think that such an agreement is
843useful and, therefore, would not resist it, but I believe that a
844procurement contract is an overly rigid structure through which to
845express the relationship between the Department of Commerce and ICANN.
846
847 The second thing I want to remind you of is RFC 2860 which is dated
848June 2000.  It was authored by the Internet Architecture Board, the
849Internet Engineering Task Force, or leaders thereof, and ICANN.  That
850RFC memorializes an MOU that was signed in March -- March 1st, 2000,
85111 years ago, between the IETF and ICANN.  And it was ratified by the
852ICANN board on March 10th of the year 2000.
853
854 And it concerns the delegation of responsibility for recording and
855memorializing Internet protocol parameters and documenting what those
856parameters are.  The responsibility for what those parameters are
857evolve out of the IETF standardization process.  The Internet
858Architecture Board delegated the responsibility for managing that
859process to -- initially to IANA and then subsequently to ICANN.  And
860that memorandum establishes that relationship.
861
862 Those responsibilities for managing the parameter space are
863distinct from the allocation of Internet addresses which has been
864assigned to ICANN specifically and thence from ICANN to the Regional
865Internet Registries and the Number Resource Organization.  That's
866distinct from the Internet parameters.  
867
868 And, finally, the general global allocation policies for Internet
869addresses is a bottom-up process developed by the RIRs and confirmed
870by the ICANN board.
871
872 One thing about the technical standards of the Internet is a
873guiding philosophy from the IETF will serve as well.  If you are
874going to do something, pick one way to do it, not several ways to do
875it.  This philosophy has contributed to the interoperability that has
876been the hallmark of the Internet design from the earliest stages and
877I think it is a very wise philosophy to follow.
878
879 We can see occasions where parties might decide for a variety of
880reasons that two standards might be a good idea.  Generally speaking,
881that leads to the possibility that parties will pick the opposite
882standard and not be able to interwork.  So I would strongly urge that
883you think about that as you put policies together.
884
885 I want to echo something that Ira said, which I believe is very
886important to the health of ICANN, and that's to strive to increase
887transparency of and to explain the rationale for policy decisions
888arising out of the ICANN process, particularly out of any board
889deliberations.  
890
891 I think there was an attempt to initiate that during board votes
892where board members were permitted to speak to the rationale behind
893their decisions, but I think that process could be refined
894substantially.
895
896 This kind of transparency helps, as Ira points out, in cases where
897there is disagreement with a conclusion, at least one can follow the
898logic leading to a particular conclusion.
899
900 I think that the Governmental Advisory Committee could usefully
901enhance its public policy input to the policy development process. 
902It's already established a long history of discussion and
903contribution to policy making in the ICANN process.  But I would like
904to encourage increased amount of attention to raising policy issues
905not only before the board but also before other parts of the ICANN
906organization.  So I'm very happy to see, at least during my tenure,
907that the Government Advisory Committee has been meeting -- had been
908meeting and I hope continues to meet with other parts of the ICANN
909structure, the other supporting organizations, the Security and
910Stability Advisory Committee and so on in order to both raise public
911policy issues before those supporting organizations and also to hear
912from them what kinds of issues are arising that might have public
913policy aspects to them.
914
915 There are a very broad range of policy issues that are not solely
916within the purview of ICANN and its multistakeholder framework.  Law
917enforcement, international commercial frameworks, intellectual
918property protection, freedom of expression, access to Internet
919services, freedom from harm, all of these policy matters lie at least
920beyond, perhaps overlapping with, but beyond the purview of ICANN. 
921It is very important, I think, not to imagine that ICANN alone can
922deal with all the policy issues that the existence of the Internet
923poses and that ICANN is a part of a universe of policy-making
924necessity but that there are other organizations that have a role to
925play.  So somehow ICANN has to fit itself into that policy ecosystem
926in a way which is constructive.
927
928 And here I believe that collaboration is key among the very many
929stakeholders to assure that the Internet operation continues to
930foster innovation and protect the legitimate rights and interests of
931countries, corporations and individuals.
932
933 Sovereignty of nations notwithstanding, achieving these goals
934requires cooperation among all who partake of the growing ubiquity of
935the Internet.  Let me emphasize that cooperation and collaboration is
936absolutely essential among all of the stakeholders in order to
937achieve successful policy outcomes.
938
939 If ever there were a time when the multistakeholder model needs to
940be embraced, it's now, with so much at stake to allow the Internet to
941expand in its scale and functionality.  This notion has to be
942preserved in future incarnations of the Internet Governance Forum or
943further exploration of the notion of a global information society. 
944There are pressures to move away from a multistakeholder structure in
945the IGF, for example, and to adopt a more intergovernmental
946multilateral model.  I strongly urge against this because there are
947too many valuable points of view that must be incorporated into any
948consideration of policy for Internet growth.
949
950 Ultimately, the challenge for ICANN and other organizations dealing
951with Internet policy is to preserve multistakeholder values and the
952single interoperational Internet within the context of the
953traditional notion of national autonomy.
954
955 I believe that collaboration and cooperation among governments and
956between national and international institutions are fundamental to
957achieving these goals.  The Internet has been a grand collaboration
958and it is up to us to preserve this value for all Internaughts
959present and future.  Thank you very much.
960
961 [ Applause ]
962
963 >>MR. ROD BECKSTROM:  Thank you very much, Vint.  Now it is my
964pleasure to introduce Larry Strickling, Assistant Secretary of
965Commerce for Communications and Information, responsible for Internet
966governance and other Internet policy matters in the Department.  
967
968 Over two decades of service in the public and private sectors,
969Larry served as the chief regulatory and chief compliance officer at
970Broadwink Communications.  He has held senior roles at Allegiance
971Telecom, Core Express and as a member of the board of Network Plus,
972that is as a member of the board.  
973
974 He served as a Chief of Common Carrier Bureau at the Federal
975Communications Commission, the FCC, and associate general counsel and
976chief of the FCC's competition division.
977
978 We have worked together on many important issues.  We've enjoyed a
979highly constructive and productive relationship and I think the
980greatest achievement we have been able to work on so far -- and I
981have had to work with Larry with -- is, of course, the Affirmation of
982Commitments that we both signed on September 30th, 2009.  A document
983that commits our organization and the community collectively to
984greater transparency and accountability.  And we've worked together
985on launching successfully the first three review teams for that
986effort.
987
988 We appreciate the Administration's defense of the ICANN
989multistakeholder model vigorously at the U.N., the ITU, and the IGF,
990Larry.  And the emphasis on governments playing a key role in the
991future Internet and all the assistance that the Assistant Secretary
992has provided to us to improve government participation in part is
993reflected in the board-GAC consultation which we discussed
994extensively.  
995
996 Finally, looking forward to working together in the IANA renewal
997and the evolution process, whether that is another procurement
998contract or whether that evolves to a cooperative agreement.  I'm
999very, very appreciative, Larry, of your exemplary efforts to help
1000move ICANN and the Internet community forward.  Thank you very much.
1001
1002 [ Applause ]
1003
1004 >>LARRY STRICKLING:  Thank you, Rod.  Let me suggest, we have been
1005here for an hour.  Why not everybody stand up and stretch real quick.
1006But don't leave, please stay.
1007
1008 [ Laughter ]
1009
1010 Okay.  That's enough.
1011
1012 [ Laughter ]
1013
1014 All things in moderation.  So, I'm very pleased to join all of you
1015today at the 40th meeting of ICANN.  And I want to thank both
1016Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush and President and CEO Rod Beckstrom for
1017their invitation.  But I hope that as we look forward to a week of
1018hard work as well as taking advantage of the wonderful City of San
1019Francisco and the Bay Area that we do take some time to think about
1020and pray for our fellow world citizens in Japan and New Zealand who
1021have suffered so greatly from the tragedies there in the last few
1022weeks and are working so hard to recover from these terrible events.
1023
1024 I'm, of course, quite humbled to appear on this stage today
1025following such luminaries as Ira Magaziner and Vint Cerf.  I'm still
1026pretty much a newbie to ICANN and Internet governance efforts, but
1027I'm sure most of you are quite familiar with the agency that I run,
1028the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, given
1029our long history and involvement with ICANN.
1030
1031 And while some of you may be familiar with my views on ICANN from
1032my participation in the Accountability and Transparency Review Team
1033and other things I have said or written, today really is the first
1034opportunity I've had to directly address the ICANN community.
1035
1036 And, again, I thank Peter and Rod for the opportunity to do just
1037that.
1038
1039 What I'd like to do today is explain how the Obama Administration
1040has been approaching Internet policy and the important role that
1041ICANN plays not just with respect to the domain name system but also
1042as a model for multistakeholder involvement that can be applied to
1043other Internet issues.  My message today is that the United States
1044government is absolutely committed to the multistakeholder process as
1045an essential strategy for dealing with Internet policy issues,
1046particularly when compared to the alternative of more traditional top-
1047down regulatory processes.
1048
1049 And we are committed to the ICANN model as the best way to preserve
1050and protect the security and stability of the Internet.  But as with
1051any important institution, we should never shy away from critically
1052evaluating its performance in making improvements where appropriate
1053and it is a measure of the commitment of the United States to this
1054model that this Administration and I personally have spent so much
1055time and effort working to ensure that the reality of ICANN measures
1056up to its vision.
1057
1058 The Obama Administration has made it a priority to develop policies
1059to ensure that we continue to have an Internet environment that
1060encourages innovation and creativity and fosters trust with its users.
1061
1062 Within the Department of Commerce, we are working with the
1063Secretary's Internet policy task force to address four key public
1064policy and operational challenges facing the Internet:  One,
1065enhancing Internet privacy; two, ensuring cyber security; three,
1066protecting online copyright; and, four, ensuring the global free flow
1067of information.
1068
1069 We are guided by two dominant principles as we approach these
1070challenging issues.  First is the idea of trust.  It is imperative
1071for the sustainability and continued growth of the Internet that we
1072preserve the trust of all actors on the Internet.  For example, if
1073users do not trust that their personal information is safe on the
1074Internet, they won't use it.  If content providers do not trust that
1075their content will be protected, they will threaten to stop putting
1076it online.
1077
1078 Our second key principle is that we want to preserve and enhance a
1079multistakeholder model for dealing with these issues.  Why?  Because
1080multistakeholder organizations have played a major role in the design
1081and operation of the Internet and are directly responsible for its
1082success.
1083
1084 We've taken these principles and put them into practice with our
1085work on privacy.  The current privacy policy framework in the U.S.
1086has come under increasing strain as more and more personal data is
1087collected on the Internet, putting at risk the consumer trust that is
1088essential for the continued growth of the digital economy.
1089
1090 Last December after convening a workshop and soliciting comments,
1091we released a green paper recommending the establishment of stronger
1092privacy protections in the area of online commercial data.  The
1093starting point for our recommendations was that strong privacy
1094protection is necessary to preserve and build the trust of users on
1095the Internet and is indispensable to the continued growth and
1096innovation of the Internet.
1097
1098 Our recommendations also rely refusal on the notion of
1099multistakeholderism.  We propose that baseline privacy protections be
1100adopted in legislation or otherwise, but that we then convene
1101stakeholders to develop enforceable codes of conduct to implement
1102these baseline protections.  This multistakeholder process allows us
1103the speed to respond quickly to new issues of consumer privacy and
1104the flexibility to have new protections crafted in the most efficient
1105manner.
1106
1107 In the coming year, we will be issuing recommendations on the other
1108three work streams of the task force.  And this notion of
1109multistakeholderism will figure prominently in these recommendations,
1110as it does in the Internet policymaking principles we have introduced
1111in discussions at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
1112Development.  Our OECD effort is focused, among other things, on
1113advancing the global consensus around the multistakeholder concept
1114that we believe is critical to the Internet's success.
1115
1116 From all of this, it should be crystal clear that the Obama
1117administration is fully committed to the multistakeholder model of
1118Internet governance.  But when we seek to extend it to other areas of
1119Internet policy, the obvious questions we get are, "Where has the
1120model been used before, and how well has it performed?"  And it's
1121important that we have success stories to point to, and we very much
1122want to point to ICANN as such an example.
1123
1124 ICANN represents a practical working model of the multistakeholder
1125approach to Internet governance.
1126
1127 When I signed the Affirmation of Commitments with Rod last
1128September -- I'm sorry, September 2009, the United States
1129demonstrated its commitment to the ICANN model and its mission to
1130preserve a single global interoperable Internet that supports the
1131free flow of information and global electronic commerce.
1132
1133 And since the affirmation was signed, ICANN has made real tangible
1134progress in many areas.
1135
1136 One of the most visible and practical steps has been the
1137introduction of internationalized country code top-level domain
1138names.  The ability of global Internet users to use the Internet in
1139their local languages and character sets is critical to the further
1140expansion and development of the Internet.
1141
1142 When we look back 10 years from now, the expansion of the domain
1143name system beyond ASCII characters may, in fact, be the most
1144significant factor in its future growth and success.  And the effort
1145has been successful, in large part, due to the way the policies for
1146this program were developed.  A true cross-constituency effort
1147between ICANN's Country Code Name Supporting Organization and the
1148Governmental Advisory Committee.
1149
1150 Another visible example of progress at ICANN has been the
1151implementation of the review team process as set forth in the
1152affirmation.
1153
1154 I had the great privilege of serving with Peter on the first
1155accountability and transparency review team, which delivered its
1156recommendations to the ICANN board this past December.  This effort
1157provided me the opportunity to do a deep dive into the inner workings
1158of ICANN, and along with fellow review team members provide what we
1159think are thoughtful and meaningful suggestions, based on
1160community/stakeholder input, to enhance and improve this model.
1161
1162 I'm pleased to see that two of the three remaining review teams
1163have commenced their work, and that they are here meeting this week.
1164
1165 I wish both groups success in their efforts, and I encourage all of
1166you to actively participate in the review team process.
1167
1168 The success of the framework established by the affirmation depends
1169upon the vigorous participation of all ICANN stakeholders.
1170
1171 A third accomplishment of note is the strong effort being made by
1172the board and the GAC to come together and consult on the advice the
1173GAC has been providing over the last four years on proposals to
1174expand global top-level domains.
1175
1176 This has been an area of the bylaws that has never been adequately
1177fleshed out before now, and all of us should give credit to the board
1178and the GAC for the efforts they are now finally making to reach
1179agreement on the public policy issues raised by the GAC over the past
1180years.
1181
1182 But despite these accomplishments, we still have work to do to make
1183the reality of ICANN meet the vision.
1184
1185 For example, while steps have been taken recently to provide more
1186clarity around the rationale for decisions the ICANN board makes,
1187these efforts remain incomplete and, in other cases, not timely.
1188
1189 In the case of ICANN's decision to remove cross-ownership
1190restrictions, the board still has not explained the basis of its
1191decision to shift from no cross-ownership to de minimis cross-
1192ownership to full cross-ownership over the course of a single
1193calendar year.
1194
1195 In addition, the rationale for the board's decision in January not
1196to commission any further economic studies regarding the impact of
1197new top-level domains, reversing earlier commitments, has yet to be
1198posted nearly seven weeks later.
1199
1200 These recent examples, along with the case studies documented in
1201the review team report, demonstrate that ICANN still has work to do
1202to ensure that decisions made related to the global technical
1203coordination of the DNS are in the public interest, are accountable,
1204and are transparent.
1205
1206 So how can ICANN move forward to demonstrate that the
1207multistakeholder model, in practice, can match the vision?
1208
1209 I would offer three suggestions today.
1210
1211 First, the board needs to move with all dispatch to implement the
1212recommendations of the accountability and transparency review team. 
1213We went to great lengths to engage the ICANN community, including the
1214board, in our efforts to develop concrete suggestions on how to
1215improve and enhance ICANN's accountability and transparency.  The
1216recommendations deal with some of the key building blocks of the
1217ICANN model.  Specifically, board governance, performance, and
1218composition, the role and effectiveness of the Governmental Advisory
1219Committee, the processes for public input into the policy development
1220process, and the mechanisms for the review of board decisions.
1221
1222 In order for ICANN to continue to enjoy the support of global
1223stakeholders, they must take the proactive steps outlined by the
1224review team to ensure the accountability and transparency of its day-
1225to-day operations matches the expectations of the global Internet
1226community.
1227
1228 For the most part, our recommendations are not new.  They've been
1229suggested in past studies from past years.  The question before us is
1230whether the ICANN board and management have the discipline and
1231willpower to embrace and implement these recommendations in a serious
1232and meaningful way now.
1233
1234 In our report, the review team asked the board to provide a status
1235report on our recommendations at this week's meeting, and everyone in
1236the community should listen carefully to that report when it is
1237given, to evaluate the progress to date on the implementation of our
1238recommendations.
1239
1240 Second, since the recommendations of the review team include a
1241number of specific observations about the relationship of governments
1242to ICANN, I'd like to take a few minutes to speak more specifically
1243about those.
1244
1245 I have spoken in other contexts about my concern that one of the
1246greatest challenges facing the Internet in the next five years is its
1247political sustainability.  Which, of course, forces us to confront
1248the question of, "What is the collective role of nation states with
1249respect to the multistakeholder governance model?"
1250
1251 The question before the Internet community is whether governments
1252collectively can operate within the paradigm of the multistakeholder
1253environment and be satisfied that their interests are being
1254adequately addressed.  This issue was a focus of the review team as
1255we examined the relationship between ICANN and governments as
1256reflected in the dealings between the board and the GAC.  And I need
1257to emphasize that those proposals, as well as additional suggestions
1258the United States has made for dealing with objectionable proposed
1259top-level domains, are in no way intended to turn over decision-
1260making to governments but, instead, to find a way to bring them
1261willingly, if not enthusiastically, into this tent of
1262multistakeholder policymaking.
1263
1264 While some nations persist in proposing such measures as giving the
1265International Telecommunication Union the authority to veto ICANN
1266board decisions, the United States is most assuredly opposed to
1267establishing a governance structure for the Internet that would be
1268managed and controlled by nation states.
1269
1270 Such a structure could lead to the imposition of heavy-handed and
1271economically misguided regulation and the loss of flexibility the
1272current system allows today, all of which would jeopardize the growth
1273and innovation we have enjoyed these past years.
1274
1275 But nonetheless, ICANN needs to do more to engage governments in
1276the multistakeholder process by providing them a meaningful
1277opportunity to participate and be heard inside of ICANN.
1278
1279 As I mentioned earlier, I am quite pleased with the apparent
1280progress made in the last few weeks as a result of the first really
1281meaningful exchanges between the board and the GAC to understand and
1282evaluate GAC advice on the new global top-level domain program, but
1283as the review team pointed out in its recommendations, this is a two-
1284way street.
1285
1286 The GAC needs to have the discipline in its process to offer
1287consensus advice to the board, but when it does so, the board really
1288needs to listen and engage with the GAC.
1289
1290 A weakness of the current model is that the ICANN bylaws and
1291practices seem to envision that GAC advice often comes at the end of
1292the policy development process.  That should not be the case.
1293
1294 The review team recommendations strongly encouraged the board,
1295acting through the board/GAC joint working group, to develop and
1296implement a process to engage the GAC earlier in the ICANN policy
1297development process.
1298
1299 My third suggestion follows from the recommendation of the review
1300team that the board clarify the distinction between issues subject to
1301ICANN's policy development process and those within the executive
1302functions of the staff and the board.
1303
1304 As ICANN decision-making continues to grow more fractious, the
1305board needs to evaluate the impact that its process of making
1306decisions is having on the development of bottom-up policy within the
1307organization.
1308
1309 Increasingly, the board finds itself forced to pick winners and
1310losers because the policy development process is not yielding true
1311consensus-based policymaking.
1312
1313 This is not healthy for the organization.
1314
1315 The strength of multistakeholder governance is that it forces all
1316participants to work together to find a mutually acceptable way
1317forward.  But how the board makes decisions is just as important as
1318how ICANN engages its constituents in the process.  If stakeholders
1319understand they can appeal directly to the board on their particular
1320policy position, they have less incentive to engage in the tough
1321discussions to reach true consensus with all stakeholders during the
1322policy development process.
1323
1324 Thus, the ICANN board needs to recommit itself to consensus-based
1325policymaking, to give all parties the incentive to participate in the
1326policy development process in a meaningful way.
1327
1328 Consensus-based decision-making has been the foundation of the
1329Internet since its inception.  As David Clark, the former chair of
1330the Internet Architecture Board, explained, "We believe in rough
1331consensus and running code."
1332
1333 Specifically, there are two steps the board should take.
1334
1335 First, the board needs to insist upon the development of consensus
1336before a matter reaches the board.  And when the policy development
1337process delivers a truly consensus process, the board needs to
1338refrain from substituting its own judgment.
1339
1340 Second, when consensus has not been reached, the board needs to
1341push back to ensure that the parties have exhausted all possible
1342efforts to reach consensus before the board imposes its own judgment
1343in a given matter.
1344
1345 If one group -- in this case, the ICANN board -- attempts to pick
1346winners and losers, the multistakeholder model is undermined. 
1347Choosing between competing interests, rather than insisting on
1348consensus, is destructive of the multistakeholder process because it
1349devalues this incentive for everyone to work together.
1350
1351 In closing, I would like to once again reiterate my personal
1352commitment to the multistakeholder model and in making ICANN work.
1353
1354 Given that commitment, I will continue to speak directly and
1355bluntly about the challenges facing ICANN and the improvements it
1356needs to make.
1357
1358 None of us in the community can afford to back away from candid and
1359frank conversations on these topics.  In the end, it only makes for a
1360stronger ICANN and that will help ensure the continued growth and
1361innovation of the Internet.
1362
1363 Thank you very much.
1364
1365 [ Applause ]
1366
1367 >>MR. PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you very much, Larry.  Your
1368advice to President Obama is helping shape the future of technology
1369and telecommunications here in the U.S. and all around the world.
1370
1371 And your work on the broadband technology opportunities program is
1372going to connect even more people to the Internet.  And thank you for
1373your work on the AoC and thank you for the work that you mentioned on
1374the ATRT, but thank you particularly, I think, for your commitment to
1375the reality of ICANN and making sure it lives up to under the
1376circumstances vision.  And thank you, again, for the very public
1377support of yourself and your administration of the multistakeholder
1378model here today at ICANN and in other very important fora.  So
1379ladies and gentlemen, please join me in thanking Larry Strickling.
1380
1381 [ Applause ]
1382
1383 And now, hot on the heels of the words from one of President
1384Obama's chief advisors, we now have the privilege of hearing from
1385someone else who until very recently also advised the president. 
1386Andrew McLaughlin served as the deputy chief technology officer at
1387the White House from 2009 until earlier this year.  And prior to
1388that, from 2004 to 2009, he was responsible for connecting to the
1389world as director of global public policy at Google.  But longtime
1390ICANNers will remember an even earlier job.  His pivotal role at the
1391very start of our organization as vice president and chief policy
1392officer and chief financial officer, from 1999 to 2002, and I think
1393that was when we only had three staff, Andrew, and you were at least
1394three of them.
1395
1396 [ Laughter ]
1397
1398 Andrew helped launch and shape ICANN.  He helped us begin the great
1399task of connecting to the world, of bringing together stakeholders
1400and governments.  And it's a task he's returning to, in a way, with
1401his new startup company focused on creating low-cost collaborative
1402technology for state and local governments and supporting new
1403startups in developing countries.
1404
1405 So ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Andrew
1406McLaughlin back to the ICANN stage.
1407
1408 [ Applause ]
1409
1410 >>ANDREW McLAUGHLIN:  Thank you very much.  It's been eight years
1411since I was at an ICANN meeting, and it feels really like I was just
1412here -- oops -- yesterday.  It's funny, I was thinking to myself that
1413I'll always be grateful to ICANN for giving me my first opportunity
1414to really screw things up on a global scale.
1415
1416 [ Laughter ]
1417
1418 As I keep looking for new opportunities, though, it's interesting
1419for me to go back and think about the early days of ICANN.
1420
1421 So what Rod asked me to do was from the perspective of somebody who
1422was arguably -- and I say this arguably because Louie Touton
1423disagrees with me -- arguably the first employee of ICANN.  I got the
1424first paycheck, although Louie thinks that it was actually he who
1425signed the paycheck, so he counts, but anyway --
1426
1427 [ Laughter ]
1428
1429 -- as the first employee of ICANN, to put the organization in
1430something of a broader context and in some ways to try to make a call
1431to action to this group today, rooted in the fundamental importance
1432of the work that you're undertaking.
1433
1434 So a few remarks -- whoa!  That did not seem healthy!
1435
1436 [ Laughter ]
1437
1438 Here we go.
1439
1440 So a few remarks about ICANN from 1998 to 2011 and beyond.  This is
1441a photograph taken of me at the Boston board meeting.  See if you can
1442tell the difference between me in 1998 --
1443
1444 [ Laughter ]
1445
1446 That's right.  I've changed my glasses.
1447
1448 [ Laughter ]
1449
1450 I remember very fondly -- and I dressed -- thank you, Larry.  Yes,
1451I dressed better then too.
1452
1453 [ Laughter ]
1454
1455 Of course the Internet in 1998 had much larger tubes, thanks to the
1456beauty's of Moore's law we've been able to reduce the size of our
1457tubes and make the Internet work better.  We've alluded a little bit
1458today already to the staggering growth of the Internet and when you
1459look at a chart like this, it really gives you some sense of
1460appreciation.  You know, really the early years of the Internet were
1461so marginal, really they were almost like rounding errors compared to
1462the amounts of traffic that are being carried globally today.  It is
1463impressive to see -- well, this really does not want to move.  There
1464we go.
1465
1466 It's impressive to see the growth.  This is one of my favorite ways
1467of showing data.  It's called gap minder, and what you see here, each
1468circle represents a country, just to space them out a little bit I've
1469lined them up according to the human index development indicators and
1470if you play a time sequence starting in 1990 and moving up to the
1471present, you can start to see the rising tide that is lifting
1472basically all humans on the planet into a state of global
1473interconnectedness through the Internet.
1474
1475 As Bruce Sterling or William Gibson -- I can't remember -- once
1476famously said, "The future is already here, it's just not evenly
1477distributed yet," this graph which really goes up only to 2007 shows
1478you that we are starting but in our adult lifetimes we will achieve
1479even distribution of the future in the form of Internet connectedness.
1480
1481 So -- oops.  Wow.  There we go.
1482
1483 Looking ahead towards 2015, Cisco has put together its numbers for
1484the next five or six years, and if you think that the Internet is big
1485and impressive now, this is just -- this is just a graphic.  Mobile
1486data traffic is going to be jumping from about a quarter of an
1487exabyte up to six exabytes per month.  Again, this is absolutely
1488staggering growth and shows you how fundamentally important the work
1489of the DNS and IP addressing systems is going to be.  This sort of
1490breaks it down between smartphones and laptops and so forth, and
1491shows basically there's going to be 92% consolidated annual growth in
1492Internet traffic in the next couple of years.  That is a further
1493staggering increase in the amount of data traffic that the
1494organizations represented here in this room today are going to be
1495fundamentally important in delivering.
1496
1497 Now, what makes all of this possible, since we're here in Silicon
1498Valley, we have to reflect on this -- what makes all of this possible
1499is the prediction that Gordon Moore made in the 1960s that the amount
1500of computing that you could fit onto a given computer chip would
1501double every 18 to 24 months.  To a quite surprising extent, that has
1502remained true.  In fact, almost all linearly true.  If you look at
1503the chip innovations and their ability to deliver computing power for
1504a given size and price of chip.
1505
1506 So what Moore's law means, in a sense, is that computing is getting
1507ever cheaper, bandwidth is getting ever cheaper, and that means that
1508ever more people can communicate ever more amounts of data and
1509information and communications for the same -- and indeed falling --
1510costs.
1511
1512 For example, if you look at the cost of a terabyte of data storage
1513in 1992, it would have cost you about $5 million and taken a couple
1514of racks of computers.  You can now buy a terabyte of data storage
1515for $89 down the road at Frye's and fit it on the corner of your
1516desk.  That's what Moore's law means in practice.
1517
1518 If you apply the same principles to a car, a car --
1519
1520 [ Laughter ]
1521
1522 -- that cost you $20,000 five years ago would cost you -- the same
1523car -- only $2500 today and five years from now it would cost you
1524about $350.
1525
1526 That's if we had Moore's law apply to the auto industry.  And maybe
1527we will.
1528
1529 But for the Internet, what this means is that cheaper and faster
1530computing brings cheaper and faster Internet.  Which means cheaper
1531and faster information and communications.  Which means more
1532information and communications to and from more people.  And there is
1533a geopolitical consequence to that.  After all, what this means in
1534practice is that the Internet is democratizing and decentralizing
1535access to communications and information.  As we all know,
1536information is power, and so the democratization of information
1537equals the democratization of the structures of power in a world
1538where information is power.  So democratization brings disruption and
1539we're seeing that unfold before us in so many different ways.  In
1540data, in news, in culture, in politics.  We see the democratization
1541of the tools to create information, to access information, to
1542distribute information are bringing what I believe to be a colossal
1543and very welcome shift in the culture of the planet that we live on,
1544which is to say that we are moving from what I hope will eventually
1545be seen as a kind of bizarre lacuna in human development in the 20th
1546century where human beings were essentially treated largely in media
1547and government and politics and so forth as passive consumers of
1548product, passive consumers of messages, as passive recipients of mass
1549broadcasts on TV, on radio, through newspapers, as recipients of
1550politicians' messages to be driven home.  And instead, we're seeing
1551the ability, the cheapness, and the accessibility of low-cost
1552creation of information and the sending of communications around the
1553world is, in fact, enabling people to become active creators, active
1554creators of culture, active creators of parity, active creators of
1555news, active creators and activists in politics.
1556
1557 This is what's unfolding around us right now, and in some -- in a
1558large sense, it's a function of Moore's law.
1559
1560 If you think about the incredible amount of computing power that
1561each individual in this room has available to you for free, from
1562these companies like Amazon and Google and Facebook and Twitter and
1563so forth, they provide you for free staggering amounts of computing.
1564
1565 And human beings all across the planet are putting it to work. 
1566They are using these so-called Web 2.0 services to change the way
1567that politics works, to spark revolutions and connect with each
1568other, to make weak ties strong in countries like Egypt and Tunisia
1569and across the Middle East today, and no doubt in many countries in
1570the future.
1571
1572 We see mentos and Diet Coke being turned into a business model.  We
1573see incredibly annoying people get 15 minutes of fame sitting in
1574their bedrooms.  But this is the power of the Internet is to make
1575this democratization and decentralization mean something and turn
1576into something.
1577
1578 Of course we have the problem that our borderless Internet
1579confronts bordered nations.  This is not going to strange.  The
1580struggle that Larry alluded to in his speech that we have to figure
1581out what the role of governments is and how they can enforce and
1582vindicate their legitimate values and national interests on a
1583borderless Internet that crosses every frontier that we've built and
1584allows people to connect to each other directly across the planet,
1585that is still a fundamental tension.
1586
1587 Turning then to ICANN for just a few minutes, let me say that I
1588share the previous speaker's, you know, sense that this model which
1589might have been a debacle and a catastrophe and I did my best to make
1590it so has, in fact, proven its value.  The multistakeholder model
1591that lies underneath ICANN has proven to be fundamentally important
1592and resilient in the face of these national bordered nations and the
1593challenges that they have presented and the interests that they're
1594trying to vindicate.
1595
1596 The multistakeholder model requires sitting around the table
1597sharing ideas and so forth, and I think its importance is fundamental.
1598
1599 I've been thinking a lot about over the years many times I've been
1600thinking -- found myself thinking about the profound wisdom that was
1601embodied in Jon Postel and his community's decision to use the
1602ISO3166 table for the designate -- for the determination of what is
1603and is not a country or geographically distinct territory, and
1604therefore, entitled to a two-level domain.  If you think about it, in
1605the early days of the Internet, this was a potentially explosive,
1606extremely difficult, highly contentious issue.  What is and is not a
1607country is the sort of thing that wars get fought over.  And one of
1608the things that Jon Postel did, some would say quite wisely, others
1609would say for lack of any better alternative, but was he found a
1610table created by an authoritative body that allowed him, as the
1611Internet coordinator, to delegate a highly toxic political question
1612to another organization that was better equipped and better able to
1613handle it.
1614
1615 And when I look at some of the issues and the problems that ICANN
1616is confronting right now, it's clear to me that there is a profound
1617kernel of wisdom in that.
1618
1619 There are no easy answers for how to delegate a problem like who
1620should run dot Muslim or dot Islam or dot Kashmir or dot Tibet, who
1621should run dot Jesus or pick your religious, ethnic, cultural, or
1622controversial name.  Nevertheless, the idea that the technical
1623coordinating organization should be as modest as possible and as
1624deferential as possible to the institutions that have been
1625constituted and developed to solve these kinds of questions over
1626hundreds of years, seems profoundly wise to me.
1627
1628 And I think about that because in some sense, a way to think about
1629the challenge for ICANN today is whether this room of people and all
1630of the thousands who participate in the ICANN processes on-line can
1631come up with an answer that's as good as what this one man figured
1632out sitting alone in that paper-filled office at the University of
1633Southern California some years ago.
1634
1635 And so with that, I'm going to close and just say it's really nice
1636to be back here.  I hope to see as many old friends as I can.  Thank
1637you to Rod and to Peter for the invitation to be here.  And as maybe
1638not a dinosaur but maybe more like a Neanderthal man of ICANN, you
1639know, kind of unsuccessful evolutionary branch that's now extinct,
1640I'd like to say to everybody in this room, congratulations on all the
1641hard work you've done.  For all of the reasons that I just said, the
1642work of this organization, this community, is of fundamental
1643importance to allow the world to realize the potential, the
1644democratizing, decentralizing, individual empowering potential of the
1645Internet and however irritated you may get with one another, however
1646frustrated you may get, I hope you all will continue to retire for
1647the lobbies for the beers that will lubricate this process because it
1648is so fundamentally important that you get it right.  Thank you.
1649
1650 [ Applause ]
1651
1652 >>MR. ROD BECKSTROM:  Thank you, Andrew.  And to use some
1653California speech that my 15-year-old daughter might give me, there's
1654two words for his speech.  "Awesome, dude!"
1655
1656 [ Laughter ]
1657
1658 Welcome to my home, the San Francisco Bay Area.  And welcome to
1659ICANN's 40th public meeting, our largest in history, and our eighth
1660in North America.  We meet today in a vibrant center of innovation
1661and technical accomplishment.
1662
1663 San Francisco and Silicon Valley are home to many of history's
1664transformative ideas, as Peter mentioned, where technology and
1665inspiration join hands.
1666
1667 Here an idea can grab the imagination, take root in just months,
1668and begin to change the world.  Ingenious devices, applications, and
1669on-line services developed in Silicon Valley allow you to watch the
1670streaming video of this session and post the blog you've just written.
1671
1672 You can use your mobile phone to tweet your disagreement with my
1673speech.
1674
1675 You can use your iPad to tell your friends you don't like my tie.
1676
1677 They will know within seconds, no matter where they are in the
1678world, if they're connected by the Internet.
1679
1680 Thanks to the amazing technology and solutions so many of which
1681have been developed here in Silicon Valley.
1682
1683 Think storage.  Networking.  Graphics.  Mobility.
1684
1685 They all rely on basic semiconductor technologies developed here.
1686
1687 Think Facebook.  Google.  Apple.  Twitter.
1688
1689 This is the place they call home.
1690
1691 The Internet is the greatest communications tool in the history of
1692mankind.  It is changing the world by facilitating the spread of
1693ideas beyond national borders, enabling human freedoms, stimulating
1694economic growth, enriching cultural diversity and nurturing the seeds
1695of innovation and social change.
1696
1697 And the Internet is helping those around the world who feel
1698marginalized to raise their voices and to be heard, not just in
1699presidential palaces but far beyond their borders.
1700
1701 I was once lucky enough to acquire an exceptional bottle of wine. 
1702It was an 1820s Madeira made of grapes grown during the lifetime of
1703President Thomas Jefferson, one of America's founding fathers.  The
1704dusty green bottle had large air bubbles in it and an ancient cork. 
1705It had been preserved in a private wine cellar in New York that dates
1706back to the 1700s.
1707
1708 A few years later, I was invited to dinner with President Clinton,
1709and I brought along that bottle of fabulous wine.
1710
1711 That night, I had the extraordinary privilege of toasting William
1712Jefferson Clinton, our 42nd president, with the wine produced during
1713the term of our 3rd president, Thomas Jefferson himself when he was
1714still alive.
1715
1716 It was a magical moment.
1717
1718 Jefferson not only loved wines but had a strong knowledge and
1719passion for debates -- for a debate on the issues of the day and he
1720was a voracious consumer of information and believed that a well-
1721informed public was a cornerstone of representative government.  "I
1722cannot live without my books," he famously stated.  I know many of us
1723can relate to that.  
1724
1725 He was a wealthy man, so he was able to build a fine collection of
1726rare and important documents in a beautiful library that he designed
1727at Monticello.
1728
1729 Now through the global Internet, 2 billion people have virtually
1730instant access to more information than the human brain, even
1731Jefferson's, could process in a lifetime and the contents of his
1732library could easily fit on a small thumb drive in your pocket.
1733
1734 Imagine if Jefferson were alive today to benefit from this
1735resource.  I bet he would be online and fully engaged in the critical
1736issue of Internet governance and independence, some of the most
1737important strategic challenges of this age.  As David G. Post wrote
1738in his excellent and engaging "In Search of Jefferson's Moose" book,
1739if Jefferson were alive today, he would probably be working on the
1740design of Internet governance structures.  He might even be with us
1741right here in this room at ICANN 40.  
1742
1743 Issues of governance and independence remain key factors in ICANN's
1744relationship with the U.S. government.  The Clinton Administration
1745was instrumental in the formulation of ICANN in 1998 as a not-for-
1746profit public benefit corporation.  The Administration saw that the
1747Internet would become a global resource and envision a unique model
1748that would welcome global voices to the debate on its future.
1749
1750 ICANN was thus conceived as a private-sector led, multistakeholder
1751organization to coordinate the Domain Name System that the world has
1752become increasingly dependent upon.
1753
1754 As ICANN's formation evolved during the Clinton Administration, so
1755too did the Governmental Advisory Committee recognizing the
1756legitimate role of governments in public policy issues involving the
1757Domain Name System.
1758
1759 We are honored to have President William Jefferson Clinton join us
1760this week.  He will speak at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday evening in this
1761room, and I hope that you can attend.
1762
1763 And I'm delighted that a pivotal player in ICANN's creation, Ira
1764Magaziner, has joined us here this morning.  
1765
1766 Ira, welcome, and thank you for all you did to help make this
1767organization a reality.
1768
1769 Creating ICANN required not just vision but courage.  The inclusive
1770multistakeholder model that is now so basic to our work was a
1771breakthrough concept 12 years ago.  It wasn't widely accepted, and it
1772is still under threat today.  It is built on openness, inclusion,
1773trust, and collaboration.  Among Internet governance operational
1774bodies, these principles are woven into real multistakeholder
1775processes, as you well know.
1776
1777 The multistakeholder model can deliver superior policies, actions
1778and decisions because it leverages the intelligence at the edge of
1779the network, harnessing the collective wisdom of the Internet
1780ecosystem and its specialist participants and groups.  Groups such as
1781the Internet service providers, domain name businesses, local
1782Internet communities, governments, Internet standards organizations,
1783the regional Internet registries, individual Internet users, non-
1784profits and businesses around the world and many others are all
1785welcome here, and we benefit tremendously from this engagement.
1786
1787 And ICANN actively engages with all of them because we believe in a
1788simple principle, everyone with an interest in the Internet should
1789have an equal right to be heard in its governance.  Policy
1790development structures should be shaped across bodies of expertise
1791and shared interests, and those competing interests must be balanced,
1792as they are by the ICANN board of directors.
1793
1794 The multistakeholder model is working.  How do we know?  Because
1795the Internet works.  It works on behalf of the world, and it brings
1796diversity and richness of thought to the governance of this primary
1797and very precious global resource.
1798
1799 Is it messy?  Loud?  Slow?  Frustrating?  Yes, sometimes.  It's in
1800our communal DNA to debate, to examine every issue in excruciating
1801detail and sometimes beyond.  Some who do not get the decision they
1802sought may occasionally express their frustration through calls for
1803reconsideration or for further accountability and transparency or
1804other reviews of process of which we have many.  And it is good.  And
1805we hear them, too, because the multistakeholder model works and the
1806global public interest is served.  And when all voices are heard, no
1807single voice can dominate an organization, not even governments, not
1808even the government that facilitated its very creation.
1809
1810 The success of the model established with such foresight can be
1811measured many ways most advisebly in ICANN's years of reliable and
1812successful coordination in the root thanks to all of us.  ICANN takes
1813its stewardship of this function very seriously and through
1814continuous improvement has maintained a high level of performance and
1815stability as the number of daily DNS queries through this community
1816has grown exponentially over this last decade.  Excellent and
1817predictable of IANA services are critical to the future of the
1818Internet.  Root management and DNS coordination serve the community
1819of nations and are critical to the preservation of a single, unified
1820Internet.
1821
1822 One of my most important responsibilities as CEO is to listen.  And
1823in our multistakeholder community, that means hearing a very wide
1824range of voices from private companies and NGOs, from the technical
1825community to the world's government to average users.
1826
1827 Since I became CEO almost two years ago, I have listened carefully
1828as many in the community, at our public meetings and around the
1829world, have expressed concerns about the structure of the current
1830IANA contract.
1831
1832 Some say the agreement is not international enough.  Some express
1833the view that it's too short-term and that this erodes institutional
1834confidence in ICANN and the model.
1835
1836 Still others feel that the U.S. governments limitation of the IANA
1837agreement to one year suggests a stopgap arrangement, whereas the
1838global Internet, ICANN and IANA functions demand reliability and
1839predictability.
1840
1841 Some believe these functions could be better handled through an
1842intergovernmental organization, as Larry mentioned.  Others disagree
1843with that proposal vehemently -- rather, Larry disagreed vehemently. 
1844And thank you very much for that.
1845
1846 Many in the community have called for greater transparency around
1847root processing, looking for clarity on what happens between the time
1848ICANN hands off a root change to the U.S. Department of Commerce and
1849when that change is given to VeriSign for incorporation into the root.
1850
1851 These views are often coupled with the belief that the U.S.
1852government should live up to its 1998 white paper commitment to
1853transfer management of the functions to the private sector-led
1854organization entrusted to manage the DNS, which is ICANN.
1855
1856 The Department of Commerce has recently issued a notice of inquiry
1857or NOI in preparation for the renewal of the IANA contract, the fifth
1858iteration since ICANN's formation in 1998, as discussed today.
1859
1860 This is the chance to add your voice to those determining the fate
1861of the IANA function.  If your voice is to be heard, you must speak
1862up.  Whatever your opinion, we hope that you will express it openly
1863and in writing.  Please take full advantage of this unique window
1864before it closes and make a difference in the future of the Internet.
1865
1866 Each ICANN meeting is an opportunity to report on our achievements
1867in increasing our transparency and accountability.  We have a strong
1868foundation to build upon, but there is always more work to be done.
1869
1870 And we're building on it throughout ICANN, in every department and
1871in discussions with every community organization, not only to meet
1872our own goals but to surpass the standards of transparency and
1873accountability as demonstrated by other global institutions.
1874
1875 For example, the public wiki launched in December to track and
1876document action on more than 800 board resolutions, every one single
1877resolution in ICANN's history, now includes the rationale for each
1878new one.  And those resolutions are now posted in five U.N.
1879languages.  So for the first time ever in our history, we have every
1880single resolution posted publicly in a Wiki with information on how
1881that resolution was followed up on or not followed up on, whether it
1882was funded or not funded.  All of that information is fully
1883transparent and online to the world.
1884
1885 We've also raised the bar for public reporting of staff activities
1886and information.  For example, a metrics dashboard provides detailed
1887information on internal operations, including performance indicators
1888on registrant protection, global participation, finance and
1889internationalized domain names, among many others.
1890
1891 And the recent board-GAC consultations in Brussels were conducted
1892transparently with almost 100 observers in the room and many more
1893connected online.
1894
1895 This powerful dedication to transparency is helping us to fulfill
1896the obligations in our bylaws and in the Affirmation of Commitments.
1897
1898 That ground-breaking agreement affirms ICANN's independence and
1899commitment to making accountable and transparent decisions in the
1900public interest around the world.  It also commits us to reviews by
1901the community, including the recent accountability and transparency
1902review.  After nine months of intensive work and almost $1 million of
1903support, the Accountability and Transparency Review Team has issued
190427 recommendations.  They focus on our areas:  The board, including
1905the nomination committee's selection process; the Government Advisory
1906Committee; public input and policy development; and review mechanisms
1907for board decisions.
1908
1909 Some recommendations relate to work that our staff is already
1910doing, and the review team has provided useful guidance for this. 
1911Some recommendations will require new resources, and several will
1912involve decisions by the boards and other groups and bodies in the
1913ICANN family.
1914
1915 We are assessing ICANN's ability to implement the recommendations,
1916which is largely the responsibility of the board, Nominating
1917Committee, the GAC and Supporting Organizations and Advisory
1918Committees, in essence, all of us, the entire ICANN community.  The
1919board has asked staff to propose a way forward for each
1920recommendation and, where practical, to provide preliminary work
1921plans and budgets.
1922
1923 This week the board will consider the 2011-2014 strategic plan that
1924will guide the budget and operating planning process that is already
1925underway.  Many of you have been involved in that process as it began
1926early last fall.  A fiscal year 2012 budget and operating plan will
1927be publicly discussed here and will ultimately the community and the
1928board will decide which ATRT recommendations should be included.
1929
1930 We will respect the Affirmation's deadlines and provide the
1931detailed analysis along with our advice to the board which must take
1932action on all of the recommendations by June 30th.
1933
1934 Now, that was a lot of process and deadlines and budget.  So let me
1935be very clear.  We intend to fulfill and wherever possible exceed our
1936obligations under the Affirmation of Commitments subject to receiving
1937appropriate resources, not just on transparency and accountability
1938but on the upcoming recommendations of the WHOIS and security and
1939stability and resilience reviews as well that are also part of the
1940Affirmation of Commitments and the review of promoting competition,
1941consumer trust and consumer choice that will follow one year after
1942the launch of new gTLDs.
1943
1944 These international community reviews reinforce the concept that
1945Internet Governance is our common responsibility, and we will do our
1946best to ensure they are successful.
1947
1948 The Internet belongs to no country and to every country.  It
1949belongs to all of us.  ICANN's relations with governments and other
1950international stakeholders continues to advance.  That doesn't mean
1951we will always agree, nor is that the goal.  What matters is the
1952serious, respectful and positive manner in which we engage with each
1953other.  We listen and consider each other's views.  We can never make
1954too great an effort in this respect.
1955
1956 We can also enhance our relationships through greater community
1957participation in policy working groups.  And in the spirit of
1958transparency and accountability that we have all embraced, community
1959participants should also be transparent about the interests they
1960represent.
1961
1962 The recent board-GAC consultations in Brussels on new generic top-
1963level domains are good evidence of these deepening relations.  They
1964demonstrated that the multistakeholder model is viable and that the
1965GAC has an important role to play in it, as reflected in the ICANN
1966bylaws.  The meeting was held in a spirit of cooperation and mutual
1967respect, transparently and openly.  We listened carefully to the
1968GAC's advice, and we will do so again this week.
1969
1970 Another example of strong international collaboration is the
1971ongoing effort to ensure the continuance of the Internet Governance
1972Forum.
1973
1974 The IGF is an effective building block in the governance of the
1975global Internet.  Its future, which looked so shaky just months ago,
1976has benefited from a series of collaborative international efforts. 
1977And while it is not guaranteed, it has moved on to a more promising
1978path than what might have been, thanks to many of you.
1979
1980 A working group of the United Nations Commission on Science and
1981Technology for Development which will propose changes that will
1982affect the IGF's next five-year mandate.  ICANN is participating as
1983one of the five technical community representatives on the working
1984group and planning is underway for the Nairobi IGF, the last to be
1985organized under the existing terms.
1986
1987 The IGF is a communication forum, not a regulatory negotiation.  It
1988serves as a valuable platform for a wide range of stakeholders to
1989exchange their views, and ICANN fully supports the extension of its
1990mandate.
1991
1992 In Miami a few weeks ago, I was part of a diverse group of Internet
1993leaders who met to acknowledge a historic milestone, the allocation
1994from IANA to the regional Internet registries of the last address
1995blocks of IPv4, the Internet protocol that has been largely unchanged
1996for 35 years since Vint and other colleagues developed it.
1997
1998 The expansion of IPv6 is far more than a technical advance.  It is
1999a vivid illustration of the Internet's amazing growth and essential
2000path to the future of continuing communication and innovation.
2001
2002 IPv6 offers a quantity of addresses beyond the human imagination: 
2003Trillions of times larger than under IPv4.  There are more IPv6
2004addresses than stars in the universe, literally.
2005
2006 Full adoption is essential to ensure that the Internet has room to
2007grow, to accommodate the Internet of things and the ideas we haven't
2008even thought of yet, the ones your son or daughter may be dreaming up
2009right now on their smartphones.  And for their vision to become
2010reality, we need global adoption of this new protocol.
2011
2012 IPv6 is the platform for tomorrow's technology.  Once we deploy it
2013fully, the future will be limited only by the boundaries of our
2014imagination, not by the absence of Internet addresses.
2015
2016 Nothing in our work is more important than keeping the Internet's
2017Domain Name System secure, stable and resilient.  It is our primary
2018mission.  Threats remain and continue, including technical threats
2019and political developments around the world.
2020
2021 ICANN conducted its fourth annual exercise in early February, this
2022time on L-root operations, demonstrating our commitment to fulfill
2023our DNS charter.  Together with our partners, Asia-Pacific Top-Level
2024Domain Association, The Internet Society and the Network Startup
2025Resource Center, we conducted a secure registry operations course in
2026Hong Kong during last month's joint meeting of the Asia-Pacific
2027Regional Internet Conference on operational technologies and APNIC,
2028the Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre.  This was an opportunity
2029for in-depth training with ccTLD managers on best practices and
2030operational security, furthering our commitment on DNS capacity-
2031building with regional TLD organizations.
2032
2033 This week's ICANN meeting includes a separate track that links all
2034security-related events such as today's DNS abuse forum, the Tech Day
2035hosted jointly by DNS Operations, Analysis and Research Center and
2036the ccNSO and the DNSSEC workshop.  This is an easy way for you to
2037identify and engage in security-related discussions.
2038
2039 We also welcome the law enforcement community members participating
2040here, including Interpol.  Our continuing collaboration enriches the
2041multistakeholder model.  In partnership with the community, we will
2042continue to do our part to help coordinate community-supported
2043security and stability efforts and to serve as a resource in
2044addressing threats to the DNS.
2045
2046 Perhaps our most significant security achievement is the ongoing
2047implementation of DNSSEC.  With strong community support, it is being
2048vigorously deployed around the world at a pace that exceeds our
2049projections.  We encourage companies to deploy DNSSEC on their DNS
2050infrastructure, in effect, to turn DNSSEC validation on and to sign
2051their company's domain names.
2052
2053 In less than a year since the root was signed, today we have 63 top-
2054level domains signed.  And in a few weeks, dot com with almost 100
2055million domain name domain names will also be signed.  With the root
2056zone and many TLDs signed, the number of domains using DNSSEC will
2057accelerate.  Large ISPs such as Comcast are deploying DNSSEC to
2058provide additional security for their customers.  And major equipment
2059vendors such as Cisco are looking at building it right into their
2060products.  This is a major win for DNSSEC.
2061
2062 And, finally, DNSSEC could help secure more than just domain name
2063domain names, perhaps e-mail, Web sites, identities, communications
2064and programs bringing seamless and trustworthy communications across
2065organizational and national boundaries.
2066
2067 For those of you who may not be fully aware and knowledgeable of
2068DNSSEC, there will be a session for newcomers today at 4:00.
2069
2070 The Latin American and Caribbean TLD Association has set a target
2071of 50% signed TLDs in Latin America by the end of this year.  2011
2072will be the year of DNSSEC for LacTLD, according to its general
2073manager who is here with us today.  We want to hear that commitment
2074echoed around the world.
2075
2076 We also continue to see progress in advancing the new generic top-
2077level domain program.  For some, that progress is not fast enough. 
2078For others, it's far too rapid.  But we're not in a race.  We're
2079considering a significant change to the world's primary
2080communications tool.  We do not do that lightly.  
2081
2082 We have invested five years of intensive efforts collectively. 
2083Getting it right is much more important than doing it fast.
2084
2085 The Governmental Advisory Committee and the board of directors met
2086in Brussels two weeks ago with three concise goals:  To clearly
2087identify areas where differences remain, to work together to bring
2088those items to resolution and to move the process far enough forward
2089that a decision to launch would be within reach.
2090
2091 It was a very constructive session.  We're not there yet, but we've
2092made significant progress on a number of these differences.  There
2093are remaining issues and given the extraordinary nature of the topics
2094and the opportunities presented, we have provided extended sessions
2095for the board and the GAC to meet this week.
2096
2097 No matter how the outcome is viewed, the collegial spirit of
2098engagement shown by all parties in Brussels is a demonstration of the
2099multistakeholder model at its best.  And long-term work that has gone
2100into preparing new generic top-level domains has had a welcoming side
2101effect.  It has made ICANN a better institution.  
2102
2103 The long and inclusive community-based process has broadened our
2104views.  It has engaged individuals and organizations that had not
2105previously engaged in ICANN.  And it established more collaborative
2106relationships among existing constituencies and stakeholders,
2107including the GAC.
2108
2109 The next step for new gTLDs is here in San Francisco where the
2110board and GAC will participate in further consultations to ensure the
2111GAC's public policy advice has been fully considered.
2112
2113 Internationalized domain names are an eloquent testament to the
2114power of inclusiveness and collaboration.  Perhaps the greatest
2115praise for IDNs since we met in Cartagena is that they have so
2116quickly become ordinary.  IDNs are an amazing achievement, a profound
2117change to the Internet and core part of rapid globalization.
2118
2119 They have opened the door for billions to access the Internet in
2120their primary language.  Naturally we like to shout that out from
2121rooftops all the way from Hong Kong to Qatar.
2122
2123 But as each new IDN enters the root, it seems less exceptional. 
2124That such an accomplishment should be considered normal and not
2125worthy of much notice is the loudest endorsement of the programs
2126success.
2127
2128 Under the fast-track process, we've received 34 requests for
2129consideration of IDN Country Code Top Level Domains.  17 countries
2130and territories now have IDNs in the Internet's root.  They include
2131Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic and Indic scripts together used by over 3
2132billion people worldwide.
2133
2134 We are also undertaking the first annual review of the fast-track
2135process to ensure that it meets the needs of the Internet community
2136and users.
2137
2138 This morning you've heard from an architect of ICANN, from one of
2139the founders and fathers of the Internet, from the Assistant
2140Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the former White
2141House deputy chief technology officer, and first employee staff
2142member of ICANN.  What an impressive group of distinguished
2143individuals linked to the development of ICANN and the Internet that
2144have provided such a broad and sophic vision of what we are up to and
2145what we have gone through and some pointers on where we're heading. 
2146We thank you all.
2147
2148 And I now have the honor to address you, ICANN's dedicated
2149community, and to thank you for your active engagement which is the
2150very foundation of our multistakeholder model.  I also thank you in
2151advance for sending your thoughts to the U.S. government in the next
2152few weeks on how this model, which works so well already, can be
2153improved even more, whether you believe that's in the form of a
2154cooperative agreement or a continuance of the current procurement
2155contract or something else.  
2156
2157 Whatever your thoughts and opinions are, we urge you to share them
2158and we applaud the Department of Commerce for opening up formally to
2159the world's input.
2160
2161 This is the moment for you to be heard on ICANN's future and the
2162future of the Internet.  Please speak up, whatever your view is,
2163about the multistakeholder model of global Internet governance and
2164how you would like it to improve because your voice matters.
2165
2166 You have until March 31st, only a few days, not so many days until
2167the end of this month, to express your opinion by responding to the
2168notice of inquiry.  We urge each and every one of you to please do so.
2169
2170 Thanks, once again, for participating with such dedication and
2171enthusiasm in ICANN and in its public meetings.  Let's make ICANN 40
2172a fun, respectful and productive week.  Thank you very much.
2173
2174 [ Applause ]
2175
2176 And this closes the session.  Thank you.