The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers made its formal submission to the Midterm. Review of the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) between ICANN and the United States Department of Commerce. The submission’s main point is that the conclusion of the JPA would be a further step in the transition envisioned since ICANN was established — one of moving the Domain Name System to private-sector co-ordination.

"Ending the JPA will provide long-term stability and security for a model that works," stated Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush in the ICANN Board submission. "It will provide confidence to all participants that the investment of time, thought and energy for over nine years has secured an Internet coordination body that will always be owned by all stakeholders, not managed or overseen by any one entity."

The U.S. Government has been committed to the transition of the DNS to the private sector since 1998. Over this time there have been seven Memorandums of Understanding between ICANN and the USG, and 13 status reports measuring ICANN’s progress. The submission also states that the completion of the JPA will clearly signal that JPA and the MOUs before it have been successful.

"This success should be commemorated," Dengate Thrush stated in the Board’s submission.

ICANN’s Board is encouraging the Internet Community to take part in the Midterm Review before the 15 February 2008 deadline for submissions. If you continue to believe, in full transition of the domain name system to the private sector, and in an Internet that is co-ordinated not controlled, now is the time to say so and be a part of the next step in that transition. ICANN’s entire submission to the Midterm Review, including a table outlining the organization’s achievements on the 10 responsibilities of the JPA, is publicly available at http://icann.org.

A link to the Department of Commerce’s Midterm Review is available online at www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/frnotices....

Other IT news about ICANN