The Freename Forum

Around three weeks before the start of the ‘Summit of the Future’, the warning calls to protect the multi-stakeholder model of network administration are getting louder: at the end of August 2024, the Internet governance organisation ICANN also made its voice heard in an open letter.

The ‘Summit of the Future’ will take place in New York from 20 to 23 September 2023 at the initiative of the United Nations. In addition to the ‘Pact for the Future’ and the ‘Declaration on Future Generations’, the ‘Global Digital Compact’ (GDC) is also to be adopted there. A first draft (zero draft) of the GDC was presented at the beginning of April 2024; it has since been revised three times. The negotiations surrounding the GDC have been sharply criticised in some quarters, as they largely take place at the level of the UN member states; the technical community and civil society, on the other hand, are only involved to a rudimentary extent. The lack of involvement of all interest groups is seen as a threat to the multi-stakeholder process of Internet governance; it is feared that it will be replaced by state centralisation, as demanded by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), among others. High-ranking experts involved in the development of the Internet, including Internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, warned of this development in an open letter back in July 2024: ‘And this means, necessarily, that there is no centre of control on the Internet.’

The Internet governance organisation ICANN has now rejoined the debate and has also written an open letter, which was published by Alexey Trepykhalin, responsible for Government and IGO Engagement at ICANN. In it, ICANN emphasises that the success of the Internet is the result of a number of factors, including the long-established multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance, which was enshrined in the Tunis Agenda of the World Summit on the Information Society in 2005 and in UN General Assembly Resolution 70/125. The technical community, of which ICANN is the most important part, is a core component of this model, as it has ensured the stable, secure and resilient operation of the Internet. It also recognises the crucial role of governments and their contributions, particularly with the involvement of ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). However, the GDC is encouraged to reaffirm support for the multi-stakeholder model as the most adaptable, comprehensive and effective approach to Internet governance. Maintaining this will ensure that the internet continues to serve as a catalyst for innovation, inclusivity, economic growth and global connectivity for all.

The .de administrator DENIC eG had also previously spoken out in the debate about the GDC. Together with other industry heavyweights such as GoDaddy, Identity Digital, Public Interest Registry, Nominet and the .au Domain Administration (auDA), DENIC published a statement in which, as part of the technical community, it expressed concerns about the lack of transparency of the entire GDC process. It was unclear whether and to what extent the comments submitted so far had contributed effectively and meaningfully to the GDC Zero draft and its subsequent revisions. Despite the broad support for multi-stakeholder internet governance in all stakeholder consultations and the strong commitment of many member states, there is a risk that this support will not be sufficiently taken into account. At the same time, there is a call for additional, timely and meaningful involvement of the multi-stakeholder community and a clear indication of how their contributions will be integrated into the results. Only through the regular and meaningful involvement of all interest groups can its declared goal of ‘shared principles for an open, free and secure digital future for all’ be successfully achieved.

The open letter from ICANN can be found here:
https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/ ... 08-2024-en

You can find the DENIC eG statement here:
https://blog.denic.de/internet-governan ... l-compact/