US Senator Calls ICANN Transparency A Top Priority
Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT), citing ICANN's MOU with the Department of Commerce, has called on ICANN to set a "date certain to ensure the decisionmaking process set by ICANN is transparent, predictable and timely for all parties involved in the decisions ICANN influences." More specifically, the Senator said that "[e]stablished procedures for a transparent decisionmaking process should be established by the end of this year to ensure ICANN has this as a top priority..." In his remarks discussing the Internet Domain Name Addressing System, the Senator also noted that ICANN needs to prove they are doing their job, "before ICANN receives the freedom they want as an independent organization." To assist with this goal, the Senator recommends that the Department of Commerce "establish dates of accomplishment to the milestones they have set out in their most recent memorandum of understanding with ICANN." In conclusion, the Senator called on the leadership of both ICANN and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to "bring a more orderly and professionally accountable way of doing business that encourages competition, innovation and stability for the global internet structure."