[council] ICANN and U.S. Department of Commerce Announce New Three-Year Agreement

["Ken Stubbs" <kstubbs@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

FYI


 ICANN and U.S. Department of Commerce Announce New Three-Year Agreement
> >
> > Marina del Rey, California USA (17 September 2003) - The Internet
> > Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the United States
> > Department of Commerce (DoC) today announced that they agreed to extend
> > their joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for three additional years
> > until September 30, 2006.
> >
> > "This new agreement clearly indicates the DoC's recognition that ICANN
> > is
> > the right organization to manage the Internet's naming and numbering
> > systems," noted ICANN President and CEO, Dr. Paul Twomey.  "We look
> > forward
> > to working with the DoC to complete, within this term, the transition
> > toward
> > privatization that began with the first MoU five years ago. We are
> > pleased
> > that we were able to reach agreement with the DoC on a term giving us
> > three
> > years to get the job done."
> >
> > ICANN Chairman, Vint Cerf, added, "This agreement between ICANN and the
> > Department of Commerce marks a major milestone in ICANN's history and
> > the
> > process of transition from the historical purely governmental oversight
> > of
> > the Internet to a public/private partnership. I am very grateful for the
> > efforts of ICANN's CEO, Paul Twomey and his staff, working with the
> > Department of Commerce, to complete this critical step on behalf of the
> > ICANN and Internet communities."
> >
> > The MoU highlights ICANN's responsibility to ensure the stability of the
> > Internet and foster its globalization. Toward those ends, ICANN will:
> > implement an objective process for selecting new Top Level Domains;
> > implement an effective strategy for multi-lingual communications and
> > international outreach; and develop a contingency plan, consistent with
> > the
> > international nature of the internet, to ensure continuity of operations
> > in
> > the event of a severe disruption of operations.
> >
> > In November 1998, the U.S. Department of Commerce entered into the first
> > MoU
> > with ICANN, recognizing it as the private sector, not-for-profit
> > corporation
> > that should assume a set of technical coordination and related policy
> > development responsibilities for the Internet.  Subsequently, there have
> > been three additional one-year extensions of the MoU, recognizing
> > ICANN's
> > significant progress towards achieving the tasks necessary to transition
> > oversight of the naming and numbering system to a public/private
> > partnership.
> >
> > Additional details concerning ICANN and the MoU are available at
> > <www.icann.org>.
> > Please direct inquiries to <hewitt@xxxxxxxxx> or 310-301-5801.
> >
> > Mary Hewitt
> > ICANN
> > Director of Communications
> > 4676 Admiralty Way, #330
> > Marina del Rey, CA. 90292
> > 310-301-5801 (direct)
> > 310-823-8649 (fax)
> > 323-304-3310 (mobile)
> >
> >
>
>