[bc-gnso] Hearing tomorrow in US Congress, regarding ICANN and IANA transition

[Steve DelBianco <sdelbianco@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In case you hadn’t heard, there’s a hearing 17-Mar in the US Congress, House 
Energy & Commerce Committee: "Privatizing the Internet Assigned Number 
Authority<https://energycommerce.house.gov/news-center/press-releases/committee-leaders-acknowledge-progress-internet-transition-proposal>”

Commerce Committee leaders made this statement last week:
 “This transition proposal marks a major milestone in the history of the 
Internet. We thank the entire multistakeholder community for their hard work 
and attention to this important task,” said Upton, Walden, and Shimkus. "Now we 
in the U.S. government must do our work. We look forward to reviewing the 
proposal and to the thoughtful analysis from NTIA as we look to whether this 
proposal meets the U.S. government's requirements for the transition and the 
needs of the American people. This final step of removing U.S. government 
oversight of the IANA functions is irreversible and we must be sure the 
transition will not harm the Internet or the millions of Americans that rely on 
it. There are no do-overs. Once the U.S. relinquishes its role in IANA, that’s 
it, there’s no going back. We must get it right."

The subcommittee invited a cross-section of stakeholders as witnesses:
Ms. Alissa Cooper, Chair, IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group;
Mr. Steve DelBianco, Executive Director, NetChoice;
The Honorable David A. Gross, Former U.S. Coordinator, International 
Communications and Information Policy, Wiley Rein LLP;
Ms. Audrey Plonk, Director, Global Security and Internet Governance Policy, 
Intel Corporation;
Mr. Matthew Shears, Director, Global Internet Policy and Human Rights Project, 
CDT
Ms. Sally Shipman Wentworth, Vice President of Global Policy Development, 
Internet Society.

My testimony 
(link<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF16/20160317/104682/HHRG-114-IF16-Wstate-DelBiancoS-20160317.pdf>)
 is on behalf of NetChoice, but closely tracks the BC position on the 
Accountability proposal.

Best,
Steve