The US government has extended its management of the internet domain system for another year, while the international community works on an alternative form of governance. The National Telecommunications & Information Administration, part of the US Department of Commerce, said it would not be possible to finish work on the new system before its current contract with Icann expires at the end of September. It was only this month that the proposal for the new governance system was put up for public comment and it will take several more months to agree on a final version of the system, subject it to US government review and implement the new structure. As a result the NTIA has extended its management contract with Icann for a year, until 30 September 2016. It has options to extend the contract for up to three additional years if needed.
The NTIA said it also asked Verisign and Icann to submit a proposal detailing how best to remove NTIA’s administrative role associated with root zone management, which the groups working on the transition were not asked to address. Under the current root zone management system, Verisign edits and distributes the root zone file after it has received authorization to do so from NTIA. Verisign and Icann have developed a proposal that outlines a technical plan and testing regime for phasing out the largely clerical role NTIA currently plays in this process. The NTIA will test the system in a parallel environment so as not to disrupt the current operation of the root zone management system.
