Editing ICANN (section)

==Proposals for reform==

Proposals have been made to internationalize ICANN's monitoring responsibilities (currently the responsibility of the US), to transform it into an international organization (under [[international law]]), and to "establish an intergovernmental mechanism enabling governments, on an equal footing, to carry out their role and responsibilities in international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet".{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

===IBSA proposal (2011)===
One controversial proposal, resulting from a September 2011 summit between India, Brazil, and South Africa (IBSA), would seek to move Internet governance into a "UN Committee on Internet-Related Policy" (UN-CIRP).<ref name="IBSA-2011">[http://www.culturalivre.org.br/artigos/IBSA_recommendations_Internet_Governance.pdf "Recommendations from the IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa) Multistakeholder meeting on Global Internet Governance"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005063245/http://www.culturalivre.org.br/artigos/IBSA_recommendations_Internet_Governance.pdf |date=October 5, 2011 }}, September 1–2, 2011, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil</ref> The action was a reaction to a perception that the principles of the 2005 Tunis Agenda for the Information Society have not been met.<ref name=IBSA-2011/><ref>[http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs2/tunis/off/6rev1.html "Tunis Agenda for the Information Society"], World Summit on the Information Society, November 18, 2005</ref> The statement proposed the creation of a new political organization operating as a component of the United Nations to provide policy recommendations for the consideration of technical organizations such as ICANN and international bodies such as the ITU.<ref>{{Cite web |title=India's Statement Proposing UN Committee for Internet-Related Policy |url=http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/india-statement-un-cirp/ |access-date=August 20, 2015 |publisher=Centre for Internet and Society}}</ref> Subsequent to public criticisms, the Indian government backed away from the proposal.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kaul |first=Mahima |title=India changes its internet governance position – backs away from UN proposal |url=http://uncut.indexoncensorship.org/2012/10/india-internet-governance/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103094900/http://uncut.indexoncensorship.org/2012/10/india-internet-governance/ |archive-date=November 3, 2012 |access-date=March 15, 2013 |publisher=UNCUT}}</ref>

===Montevideo Statement on the Future of Internet Cooperation (2013)===
On October 7, 2013, the [[Montevideo Statement]] on the Future of Internet Cooperation was released by the managers of a number of organizations involved in coordinating the Internet's global technical infrastructure, loosely known as the "I*" (or "I-star") group. Among other things, the statement "expressed strong concern over the undermining of the trust and confidence of Internet users globally due to recent revelations of pervasive monitoring and surveillance" and "called for accelerating the globalization of ICANN and IANA functions, towards an environment in which all stakeholders, including all governments, participate on an equal footing". This desire to reduce United States association with the internet is considered a reaction to the ongoing [[PRISM (surveillance program)|NSA surveillance scandal]]. The statement was signed by the managers of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the [[Internet Engineering Task Force]], the [[Internet Architecture Board]], the [[World Wide Web Consortium]], the [[Internet Society]], and the five [[regional Internet registry|regional Internet address registries]] ([[African Network Information Center]], [[American Registry for Internet Numbers]], [[Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre]], [[Latin America and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry]], and [[Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre]]).<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-07oct13-en.htm Montevideo Statement on the Future of Internet Cooperation], ICANN, October 7, 2013. Retrieved October 12, 2013.</ref><ref>[https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/10/11/internet_heavyweights_turn_backs_on_snoopy_us_demand_global_oversight/ "Brazil's anti-NSA prez urged to SNATCH keys to the internet from America"], Rik Myslewski, ''The Register'', October 11, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2013.</ref><ref name="booting">{{Cite news |last=Milton Mueller |date=November 19, 2013 |title=Booting up Brazil |work=IGP Blog |url=http://www.internetgovernance.org/2013/11/19/booting-up-brazil/ |access-date=February 11, 2014}}</ref>

===Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance (2013)===
During October 2013, [[Fadi Chehadé]], former president and CEO of ICANN, met with Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia. Upon Chehadé's invitation, the two announced that Brazil would host an international summit on Internet governance during April 2014.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJmFAMJNx94 "Entrevista com Fadi Chehadé: Brasil sediará encontro mundial de governança da internet em 2014"], Palácio do Planalto, October 9, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2014.</ref> The announcement came after the [[2013 global surveillance disclosures|2013 disclosures of mass surveillance]] by the U.S. government, and Rousseff's speech at the opening session of the 2013 United Nations General Assembly, where she strongly criticized the American surveillance program as a "breach of international law". The "[[Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance]] (NET mundial)" will include representatives of government, industry, civil society, and academia.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} At the [[Internet Governance Forum#IGF VIII — Bali, Indonesia 2013|IGF VIII meeting in Bali in October 2013]] a commenter noted that Brazil intends the meeting to be a "[[Summit (meeting)|summit]]" in the sense that it will be high level with decision-making authority.<ref name="IGF2013-Summary">[http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/Chair%27s%20Summary%20IGF%202013%20Final.Nov1v1.pdf "Chair's Summary"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423201746/http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/Chair%27s%20Summary%20IGF%202013%20Final.Nov1v1.pdf |date=April 23, 2022 }}, Eighth Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), Bali, Indonesia, October 22–25, 2013. Retrieved November 5, 2013.</ref> The organizers of the "NET mundial" meeting have decided that an online forum called "/1net", set up by the I* group, will be a major conduit of non-governmental input into the three committees preparing for the meeting in April.<ref name="booting" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=January 27, 2014 |title=CENTR: Internet Governance in 2013 and What's Coming Up in 2014 |work=CircleID |url=http://www.circleid.com/posts/20140127_centr_internet_governance_in_2013_and_whats_coming_up_in_2014/ |access-date=February 11, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Paul Wilson |date=November 29, 2013 |title=What Is "1net" to Me |work=CircleID blog |url=http://www.circleid.com/posts/2013112_what_is_1net_to_me/ |access-date=February 11, 2014}}</ref>

The [[Presidency of Barack Obama|Obama administration]] that had joined critics of ICANN during 2011<ref name="TWP 2011-03-01">{{Cite news |last=Shapira |first=Ian |date=March 1, 2011 |title=Obama administration joins critics of U.S. nonprofit group that oversees Internet |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/28/AR2011022803719.html |access-date=September 20, 2014 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> announced in March 2014 that they intended to transition away from oversight of the IANA functions contract. The current contract that the [[Commerce Department|United States Department of Commerce]] has with ICANN expired in 2015, in its place the NTIA will transition oversight of the IANA functions to the 'global multistakeholder community'.<ref name="NTIA-IANA-Transition">{{Cite web |title=NTIA Announces Intent to Transition Key Internet Domain Name Functions |url=http://www.ntia.doc.gov/press-release/2014/ntia-announces-intent-transition-key-internet-domain-name-functions |access-date=October 25, 2014 |website=NTIA }}</ref>

===NetMundial Initiative (2014)===
The [[NetMundial Initiative]] is a plan for international governance of the Internet that was first proposed at the Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance (GMMFIG) conference (April 23–24, 2014)<ref name="bbc-April2014">{{Cite news |date=April 23, 2014 |title=Future of the internet debated at NetMundial in Brazil |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27108869 |access-date=June 2, 2014}}</ref><ref name="circleid">{{Cite news |date=May 3, 2014 |title=NETmundial Multistakeholder Statement Concludes Act One of 2014 Internet Governance Trifecta |work=CircleID |url=http://www.circleid.com/posts/20140504_netmundial_multistakeholder_statement_concludes_act_one_of_2014/ |access-date=June 2, 2014}}</ref><ref name="pctech">{{Cite news |date=May 21, 2014 |title=ICANN Releases Roadmap, Timeline for Future Management of Internet |work=PC Tech Magazine |url=http://pctechmag.com/2014/05/icann-releases-roadmap-timeline-for-future-management-of-internet/ |access-date=June 2, 2014}}</ref>
and later developed into the NetMundial Initiative by ICANN CEO [[Fadi Chehadé]] along with representatives of the [[World Economic Forum]] (WEF)<ref name="wef">{{Cite web |title=NETmundial Initiative – Debrief with Founding Partners |url=https://agenda.weforum.org/topic/global-issues/future-of-the-internet/internet-governance-geo-politics/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209062622/https://agenda.weforum.org/topic/global-issues/future-of-the-internet/internet-governance-geo-politics/ |archive-date=February 9, 2015 |access-date=June 2, 2014}}</ref>
and the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil), commonly referred to as "CGI.br".<ref name="cgi">{{Cite web |title=Public Declaration on the NETmundial Initiative issued by members of the board of CGI.br |url=http://cgi.br/noticia/public-declaration-on-the-netmundial-initiative-issued-by-members-of-the-board-of-cgi-br/ |access-date=June 2, 2014}}</ref>

The meeting produced a nonbinding statement in favor of consensus-based decision-making. It represented a compromise and did not harshly condemn mass surveillance or support [[net neutrality]], despite initial endorsement for that from Brazil. The final resolution says ICANN should be controlled internationally by September 2015.<ref name="businessweek">{{Cite news |date=April 30, 2014 |title=At NETmundial, the U.S. Kept Its Companies on the Global Stage |work=Bloomberg BusinessWeek |url=http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-30/at-netmundial-the-u-dot-s-dot-kept-its-companies-on-the-global-stage |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140430142040/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-30/at-netmundial-the-u-dot-s-dot-kept-its-companies-on-the-global-stage |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 30, 2014 |access-date=June 2, 2014}}</ref>
A minority of governments, including Russia, China, Iran and India, were unhappy with the final resolution and wanted multilateral management for the Internet (such as a [[United Nations|UN]]-based model), rather than broader multistakeholder management.<ref name="businessstandard">{{Cite news |date=May 3, 2014 |title=The future of the internet |work=Business Standard |url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/the-future-of-the-internet-114050300990_1.html |access-date=June 2, 2014}}</ref>

A month later, the Panel on Global Internet Cooperation and Governance Mechanisms (convened by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) with assistance from [[The Annenberg Foundation]]), endorsed and included the NetMundial statement in its own report.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 20, 2014 |title=Towards a Collaborative, Decentralized Internet Governance Ecosystem – report by the Panel on Global Internet Cooperation and Governance Mechanisms |url=http://internetgovernancepanel.org/panel-report |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606202714/http://internetgovernancepanel.org/panel-report |archive-date=June 6, 2014 |access-date=June 2, 2014}}</ref>

During June 2014, France strongly attacked ICANN, saying ICANN is not a fit venue for Internet governance and that alternatives should be sought.<ref name="AFP 2014-06-25">{{Cite news |date=June 25, 2014 |title=France attacks ICANN as unfit for internet governance |work=[[Yahoo! News]] |agency=[[Agence France-Presse]] |url=https://news.yahoo.com/france-attacks-icann-unfit-internet-governance-233956870.html |access-date=September 20, 2014}}</ref>