IANA Oversight Spinoff, Data Localization Called Key International Issues for U.S. Communications Sector

NTIA’s planned spinoff of its oversight of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions, along with debates on cross-border data flows and data localization, are top issues the U.S. communications sector is examining for potential effects on their overseas business, industry officials said Monday night. Those issues all fundamentally center on how the world will view the Internet in the future, given it wasn’t a jurisdiction-bound technology meant to be “defined by geography per se,” said David Weller, Google head of global trade policy, at an FCBA event.

The IANA oversight transfer planning process is “really unprecedented” and is an interesting study of governance generally, said Paul Brigner, Internet Society regional director-North American Bureau. That planning process will in part involve developing accountability mechanisms within ICANN, which administers the IANA functions, to replace NTIA’s perceived role as a “backstop” against misbehavior, Brigner said. “The question is whether or not ICANN’s going to be able to adopt different accountability mechanisms to give the stakeholders assurances that they are going to continue to serve the multistakeholder model and serve the best interests of the Internet community.” Since March, the IANA planning process has been viewed as a likely major influence on the larger conversation on Internet governance for the remainder of the year (CD March 24 p15), something made clear at the recent NETmundial conference in Sao Paulo, Brigner said.

The outcome of NETmundial, seen as favorable to the U.S. position on multistakeholder Internet governance (CD June 5 p4), was also heavily influenced by participation from the Internet community, Brigner said. The multistakeholder model’s future, the central topic of NETmundial, “is an issue that affected businesses across the board,” resulting in participation from a number of major Brazilian companies, he said. Weller also noted the Brazilian Internet community’s passion, which he said is a global phenomenon. “There are very few countries where people aren’t passionate about this,” he said, saying there’s demand for the Internet’s function as a “public square” in even the most totalitarian countries.

There needs to be a “real discussion” on data localization, cross-border data flows and issues that will also affect how governments affect the Internet in the future, Weller said. Enough governments are exploring policies that would restrict cross-border data flows over concerns about surveillance and privacy that “it freaks people out” because it is “antithetical” to the Internet’s history as a borderless platform, he said. Cross-border data flows are “really key” to the future success of the Internet, because its “traffic doesn’t stop at the border,” said Lauren Van Wazer, Akamai vice president-global public policy. It’s important for U.S. companies to engage in the debate over how governments should get involved in data flow policy, she said. AT&T views cross-border data flow as a “critical” international trade issue and an example of how open markets have “utterly transformed” the communications sector in recent decades, said Eric Loeb, vice president-international external affairs.