Re: [ga] RE: is ICANN or is ICANN not?

[Karl Auerbach <karl@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Roberto Gaetano wrote:

>  the statement of
> fact "IANA operates under contract with USG" 

Well, one has to be a bit precise about "IANA".

Part of ICANN's role comes from a zero-dollar purchase order from the US Gov't 
to perform a rather vaguely defined "IANA function".  It is not clear that the 
agency that issued that purchase order has the legal authority to contract-for 
the work that is described.

Another part comes via the MoU between ICANN and NTIA.  It's been too long 
since I read the entire stack of amendments, but I don't remember it really 
saying much about IANA itself.

And then there is a role derived from the IETF and its administrative body 
regarding the assignment of numbers and other values used in protocols (this is 
the core work of IANA.)

And then there is the allocation of the largest chunks of IP space for 
allocation mainly to the RIRs, but also sometimes directly (e.g. I vaguely 
remember that ICANN may have allocated IP address space directly to itself.) 
It is not clear where the authority for this comes from except as an unwritten 
or presumed legacy from the days of Jon Postel.

And then there is the ccTLD job.  I can't remember whether that is defined in 
the purchase order or not.  And if so one has to ask whether the contracting 
authority has the legal power to deal with ccTLDs or contract-out that job to a 
private body.

Also, there is the L root server.  That's part of IANA, not ICANN.  But ICANN 
treats it as if it were integral to ICANN rather than something derived via 
some part of ICANN's IANA role, a role that could be taken from ICANN.

All-in-all, it's as clear as mud.

		--karl--