Subject: IAB statement on IANA Stewardship Transition

From: IAB Chair <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2016 13:17:54 -0400

Dear colleauges,

The IAB today put out a statement about the IANA Stewardship
Transition.  It's available at
https://www.iab.org/documents/correspondence-reports-documents/2016-2/iab-statement-on-the-iana-stewardship-transition/.
I reproduce the text below.

The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) provides long-range technical
direction for Internet development, ensuring the Internet continues to
grow and evolve as a platform for global communication and innovation.
As individuals, we’ve devoted decades of effort to building software
and infrastructure that serve as the basis for today’s Internet.  Our
interest in the IANA Functions contract comes from both a direct role
as a user of the IANA functions, and a broader concern for the
continued growth of the Internet.

Our assessment, as the oldest technical community using the IANA
functions, is that the transition plan is fit for purpose and that the
IANA stewardship transition should go forward as planned on September
30, 2016.

We note that recent attention to the transition has sometimes
engendered misunderstandings about the nature of the existing system.
Some have presumed that the effort is one that relates to control of
Internet infrastructure, speech, content, or security.  None of those
are within the purview of IANA staff.  Rather, support of open
standards development is one of the core IANA functions. IANA staff,
under the supervision of the Internet Engineering Task Force and the
Internet Architecture Board, record and publish technical registries
(the “protocol parameters”) used by software developers and network
operators to make the Internet work.

We also note that some have claimed that the end of the contract
between ICANN and the US Government could create a political challenge
to the way the Internet works and grows, but this is a
misunderstanding of both the history and the status quo. Just the
opposite is true: there is growing pressure to use the US role in IANA
functions as an excuse to create a government role in other Internet
technical activities like standards development. Today, there is no
special role for governments, and there should not be one.  If the US
does not now follow through on its public commitment to let the IANA
Functions contract expire as scheduled, then other governments may
take it as an invitation to interfere in technical processes.

The Internet is a voluntary system. It works because the parties who
run and oversee the infrastructure choose to work together and trust
each other of their own accord. The US government has been and should
remain a strong supporter of this voluntary cooperation.  Maintaining
the IANA transition to a fully cooperative system supports the
Internet as a voluntary, open collaboration platform that is not
centrally led by governments.

Misunderstandings of the role of the IANA functions should not further
delay the end of the US government contract for the IANA functions.
We urge the completion with a strong belief that on the day after the
transition, the Internet will function exactly as it did before, with
strong community oversight and accountability for IANA seamlessly
replacing the previous system.  The IAB believes that the transition
is ready to take place.

Best regards,

Andrew Sullivan
For the IAB

-- 
IAB Chair (Andrew Sullivan)
[email-masked]