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DNS: Fed Activity / NTIA

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History

Derived from Internet Domain Names: Background and Policy Issues, CRS Report to Congress July 14, 2006:

NSF was responsible for registration of nonmilitary domain names, and in 1992 put out a solicitation for managing network services, including domain name registration. In 1993, NSF signed a five-year cooperative agreement with a consortium of companies called InterNic. Under this agreement, Network Solutions Inc. (NSI), a Herndon, Virginia engineering and management consulting firm, became the sole Internet domain name registration service for registering the .com, .net., and .org. gTLDs.

Since the imposition of registration fees in 1995, criticism of NSI's sole control over registration of the gTLDs grew. In addition, there was an increase in trademark disputes arising out of the enormous growth of registrations in the .com domain. There also was concern that the role played by IANA lacked a legal foundation and required more permanence to ensure the stability of the Internet and the domain name system. These concerns prompted actions both in the United States and internationally.

An International Ad Hoc Committee (IAHC), a coalition of individuals representing various constituencies, released a proposal for the administration and management of gTLDs on February 4, 1997. The proposal recommended that seven new gTLDs be created and that additional registrars be selected to compete with each other in the granting of registration services for all new second level domain names. To assess whether the IAHC proposal should be supported by the U.S. government, the executive branch created an interagency group to address the domain name issue and assigned lead responsibility to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the Department of Commerce (DOC). On June 5, 1998, DOC issued a final statement of policy, "Management of Internet Names and Addresses." Called the White Paper, the statement indicated that the U.S. government was prepared to recognize and enter into agreement with "a new not-for-profit corporation formed by private sector Internet stakeholders to administer policy for the Internet name and address system."1 In deciding upon an entity with which to enter such an agreement, the U.S. government would assess whether the new system ensured stability, competition, private and bottomup coordination, and fair representation of the Internet community as a whole.

In effect, the White Paper endorsed a process whereby the divergent interests of the Internet community would come together and decide how Internet names and addresses would be managed and administered. Accordingly, Internet constituencies from around the world held a series of meetings during the summer of 1998 to discuss how the New Corporation (NewCo) might be constituted and structured. Meanwhile, IANA, in collaboration with NSI, released a proposed set of bylaws and articles of incorporation. The proposed new corporation was called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). After five iterations, the final version of ICANN's bylaws and articles of incorporation were submitted to the Department of Commerce on October 2, 1998. On November 25, 1998, DOC and ICANN signed an official Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), whereby DOC and ICANN agreed to jointly design, develop, and test the mechanisms, methods, and procedures necessary to transition management responsibility for DNS functions to a private-sector not-for-profit entity.

The White Paper also signaled DOC's intention to ramp down the government's Cooperative Agreement with NSI, with the objective of introducing competition into the domain name space while maintaining stability and ensuring an orderly transition. During this transition period, government obligations were to be terminated as DNS responsibilities transferred to ICANN. Specifically, NSI committed to the development of a Shared Registration System that permits all accredited registrars to provide registration services within the .com, .net., and .org gTLDs. NSI (now VeriSign) continues to administer the root server system until receiving further instruction from the government.

After a year of negotiations, on November 10, 1999, ICANN, NSI, and DOC formally signed agreements which provided that NSI (now VeriSign) was required to sell its registrar operation by May 10, 2001 in order to retain control of the dot-com registry until 2007. In April 2001, arguing that the registrar business was by then highly competitive, VeriSign reached a new agreement with ICANN whereby its registry and registrar businesses would not have to be separated. With DOC approval, ICANN and VeriSign signed the formal agreement on May 25, 2001. The agreement provided that VeriSign would continue to operate the .org registry until 2002; the .net registry until June 30, 2005; and the .com registry until at least the expiration date of the current agreement in 2007, and possibly beyond. In 2002, the ICANN Board selected Public Interest Registry to operate .org for six years, and in 2005, selected Verisign to operate the .net registry for an additional six years.

On September 17, 2003, ICANN and the Department of Commerce agreed to extend their MOU until September 30, 2006. The MOU specifies transition tasks which ICANN has agreed to address. ICANN will implement an objective process for selecting new Top Level Domains; implement an effective strategy for multi-lingual communications and international outreach; and develop a contingency plan, consistent with the international nature of the Internet, to ensure continuity of operations in the event of a severe disruption of operations. However, on June 30, 2005, Michael Gallagher, then-Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator of NTIA, stated the U.S. Government's principles on the Internet's domain name system. Specifically, NTIA states that the U.S. Government "intends to preserve the security and stability" of the DNS, and that "the United States is committed to taking no action that would have the potential to adversely impact the effective and efficient operation of the DNS and will therefore maintain its historic role in authorizing changes or modifications to the authoritative root zone file." The NTIA statement also says that governments have legitimate interests in the management of their country code top level domains, that ICANN is the appropriate technical manager of the DNS, and that dialogue related to Internet governance should continue in relevant multiple fora.2 On May 23, 2006, NTIA announced an inquiry and public meeting seeking comment on the progress of the transition of the technical coordination and management of the DNS to the private sector.

Regulatory Proceedings

Docket

NTIA's Joint Project Agreement with ICANN

Comments Due Feb. 15, 2008
Information on Administrative Procedure

For Immediate Release : October 29, 2007: Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today announced that it will consult with interested stakeholders regarding the mid-term review of the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) between the Department and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). NTIA will soon release a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) requesting comments to be due February 15, 2008.

"It is important that all interested stakeholders have an opportunity to directly share their views on ICANN during the JPA mid-term review," said NTIA Administrator John M. R. Kneuer at ICANN's 30th meeting. "We feel strongly that our review must be informed by your experiences with ICANN and perspectives regarding its evolution."

Kneuer also congratulated outgoing ICANN Chairman Vint Cerf on his tenure. "Vint's technical expertise, business experience, and global stature have been exceptionally well suited to the unique enterprise that ICANN represents," said Kneuer. "Over the course of the past eight years, ICANN's model of full participation by all interested stakeholders in decisions and policy making has progressively evolved and strengthened."

NTIA and ICANN signed the JPA on September 29, 2006. The JPA has a three-year term and provides for the Department to conduct a mid-term review of the agreement. The Department will consult with interested stakeholders to assist in conducting this mid-term review of ICANN's progress in meeting the responsibilities outlined in the JPA and by ICANN's Board. When published, the full text of the NOI will be available online at www.ntia.doc.gov .

NTIA is responsible for the development of domestic and international telecommunications policy for the Executive Branch.

Docket No. 060519136-6136-01 Comments due July 7, 2006. Public meeting 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. July 26, 2006.  
The Continued Transition of the Technical Coordination and Management of the Internet Domain Name and Addressing System

NTIA Notice May 2006

NTIA Notice: The United States Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) seeks comment on the continuation of the transition of the technical coordination and management of the Internet domain name and addressing system (Internet DNS) to the private sector. In June 1998, the Department issued a statement of policy on the privatization of the Internet DNS, which among other things articulated four primary functions for global Internet DNS coordination and management, the need to have these functions performed by the private sector and four principles to guide the transition to private sector management of the Internet DNS. On June 30, 2005, NTIA released the U.S. Principles on the Internet's Domain Name and Addressing System further elaborating on these issues. The Department of Commerce seeks comment regarding the progress of this transition and announces a public meeting to be held on July 26, 2006, to discuss issues associated with this transition.

DATES: Comments are due on or before July 7, 2006. The public meeting will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on July 26, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be submitted by U.S. mail to Fiona Alexander, Office of International Affairs, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room 4701, Washington, DC 20230. Paper submissions should include a three and one-half inch computer diskette in HTML, ASCII, Word or WordPerfect format (please specify version). Diskettes should be labeled with the name and organizational affiliation of the filer, and the name of the word processing program used to create the document. Alternatively, comments may be submitted electronically to DNSTransition@ntia.doc.gov. Comments provided via electronic mail should also be submitted in one of the formats specified above. All comments will be posted to NTIA's website at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/dnstransition.html. The public meeting will be held at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Auditorium, Washington, D.C. (Entrance to the Department of Commerce is on 14th Street between Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues, N.W.)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions about this Notice or the Public Meeting, contact: Fiona Alexander, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room 4701, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-1866; or email: falexander@ntia.doc.gov. Please direct media inquiries to the Office of Public Affairs, NTIA, at (202) 482-7002.

NTIA letter to ICANN regarding Reform, NTIA 7/19/02

May 6 ITU Tutorial Workshop on IPv6 Geneva

ICANN MOU Process See DNS History

  • Commerce's NTIA Seeks Public Comments Regarding Joint Project Agreement with ICANN, NTIA 10/31/2007
  • New NTIA ICANN Contract, NTIA 3/19/03
  • Apr 2002 "The Department of Commerce exercises an option in its contract with ICANN regarding the technical functions of the domain name system, extending it through September 2002." [GAO02]
  • Sept 2001 " The Department of Commerce and ICANN agree to extend the MOU through September 2002 and the cooperative research and development agreement through June 2002 (amendment 4)." [GAO02]
  • May 2001 " ICANN and the Department of Commerce approve MOU amendment 3, which conforms the MOU with the Department's new agreement with VeriSign (formerly Network Solutions.)" [GAO02]
  • Mar 2001 "The Department of Commerce enters into a second contract with ICANN regarding technical functions of the domain name system." [GAO02]
  • Feb 2000 " The Department of Commerce contracts with ICANN to perform certain technical management functions related to the domain name system, such as address allocation and root zone coordination." [GAO02]
  • Nov 1999 " ICANN and the Department of Commerce approve MOU amendment 1 to reflect the roles of ICANN and Network Solutions, Inc." [GAO02]
  • June 1999 " ICANN and the Department of Commerce enter into a cooperative research and development agreement to study root server stability and security. The study is intended to result in a final report by September2000." [GAO02]
  • Nov 1998 " The Department of Commerce and ICANN enter into an MOU that states the parties will jointly design, develop, and test the methods and procedures necessary to transfer domain name system management to ICANN. The MOU is set to expire in September 2000." [GAO02]

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