Strickling Criticizes IANA Transition Opponents for Attempting to 'Derail' Process
NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling admonished critics of the recently completed Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition, in a speech Wednesday. ICANN implemented the move earlier this month after NTIA allowed its contract with the organization to administer the IANA functions to…
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expire (see 1610030042). Strickling noted "some last-minute attempts to derail the transition" during an Internet Governance Project event. “You do not show respect for the multistakeholder process when you wait until the process is over and the community has reached consensus and then propose major changes in the plan without ever asking the community to consider such an option," Strickling said. "You do not show respect for the multistakeholder process when you do not participate for two years and then afterward say you object to the outcome.” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, led GOP congressional opposition to the transition, with some senators unsuccessfully attempting to delay its implementation via the short-term continuing resolution to fund the government through Dec. 9 (see 1609220067 and 1609270054). A coalition of four GOP state attorneys general unsuccessfully tried to delay the switch via a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Galveston, Texas (see 1609300065). Strickling said it's fortunate those attempts to scuttle the transition “did not succeed” and NTIA was able to fulfill its promise to spin off its oversight of the IANA functions to the ICANN community. “I believe without a doubt we were” correct to seek a multistakeholder process to plan for the switchover, as it turned into a "most compelling" demonstration of the strengths of multistakeholder internet governance, Strickling said.