US to Give Up Control of DNS Management

The U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration is planning to end its formal partnership with ICANN  (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) in 2015.  ICANN's contract for operating key domain name functions will expire in September 2015. ICANN's responsibilities include operating the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and the global coordinator for the DNS.

In a press conference, U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) administrator Lawrence Strickling said of the shift in responsibilities:

The timing is right to start the transition process. [...] We look forward to ICANN convening stakeholders across the global Internet community to craft an appropriate transition plan.

ICANN is in the process of developing a new worldwide governance program. Certainly, this change was influenced heavily by growing criticism in recent years on ICANN 's influence by the U.S. government on its operations with core Internet functions. Such functions, some feel, affect business, security, privacy and economic growth.

U.S. to Relinquish Control of Internet Address System https://t.co/Mp5iJchJGz via @BloombergNews

— NTIA (@NTIAgov) March 14, 2014

The NTIA specified to ICANN that the transition plan must include the following 4 components:

• Support and enhance the multistakeholder model;
• Maintain the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet DNS;
• Meet the needs and expectation of the global customers and partners of the IANA services; and,
• Maintain the openness of the Internet.

Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV released a statement on the website for the US Senate on Commerce, Science & Transportation and provided context on the transition plan:

Since 1998, the U.S. has been committed to transitioning management of the Internet’s domain name system to an independent entity that reflects the broad diversity of the global Internet community.

SOURCE: Press release: NTIA Announces Intent to Transition Key Internet Domain Name Functions, 2014 - www.ntia.doc.gov