By Thomas Lenard and Lawrence White
Published in The Hill on June 17, 2014
The U.S. government’s decision to relinquish its historic role in Internet governance has set in motion a transition with no clear resolution. The Department of Commerce has asked the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to “convene stakeholders across the global Internet community to craft an appropriate transition plan,” but where this will lead is anyone’s guess. What is clear is that the transition provides both the opportunity for, and the necessity of, undertaking a fundamental reevaluation of ICANN’s accountability mechanisms.
