ICANN’s New Deal

Today, the old Joint Project Agreement (JPA) between ICANN and the Department of Commerce expired, and had its place taken by something called the Affirmation of Commitments, already being referred to as the “AoC” in the ICANN vernacular. The document is short and plainly written, so it’s worth a read and actually doesn’t need a lengthy decryption. Naturally I have some concerns, but I’ll save those for another time. This is good news and should be celebrated.

ICANN is now a global organization, in fact as well as in name. Importantly, under the AoC, ICANN remains “private sector led,” although governments, through the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), will have an expanded review function. That was already the case, but under the old JPA it was just one government, that of the United States, doing the reviewing.

The new framework spelled out in the Affirmation of Commitments is something ICANN has needed for a long time. It reinforces ICANN’s charter as a group that works in the public interest; it makes ICANN truly global; it gives ICANN the freedom to operate, and it sets up what we hope will be a sustainable model for government involvement. ICANN’s leadership has been given a license to do good, and we in the ICANN community should also redouble our efforts to make good on ICANN’s promise.

Congratulations to everyone at ICANN and at the Department of Commerce for reaching this historic milestone.