Danielle Kehl, David Post, “Controlling Internet Infrastructure – Part I: The IANA Transition and Why it Matters for the Future of the Internet”

Danielle Kehl and I have just published a background paper on the IANA transition – entitled “Controlling Internet Infrastructure – Part I: The IANA Transition and Why it Matters for the Future of the Internet” – for the Open Technology Institute.  It’s available here:  http://www.newamerica.org/oti/controlling-internet-infrastructure/ 

There probably isn’t a great deal in there that those of you who are already participants in the NCUC are unfamiliar with.  The target audience comprises those people who have not been following DNS policy matters and who know nothing or next-to-nothing about ICANN, or IANA, or the DNS, but who need or want to understand what the stakes are in the transition.  We hope we’ve filled a gap in the existing writings on the subject, something  that can help someone who is completely unfamiliar with the territory to understand just what is going on with the IANA transition, and why it matters as much as we think it does for the Internet going forward.  This is the first part of what we expect to be a multi-part series; a second piece, coming out shortly, will dive more deeply into the specifics of the various proposals now under consideration, with particular attention to the “accountability” discussions.