ICANN Leader Praises Brazil’s Multi-Stakeholder

Rod Beckstrom, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), has praised Brazil as one of the few countries that has adopted a multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance issues. The ICANN leader praised Brazil’s Internet Steering Committee or Consejo Gestor de Internet CGI during a keynote address to the Futurecom information technology conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He said it has been instrumental in bringing security enhancements to the Internet and in embracing the IPv6 protocol, which dramatically increased the amount of available Internet addresses. “It is an example of the Brazilian government’s wisdom in saying we want the private sector, we want the civil society, and academic leaders, Internet experts and corporations to come together and provide the Internet Strategy for the country,” said Beckstrom. Beckstrom said ICANN is also proudly defined by a multi-stakeholder model, aimed at increasing the participation of diverse groups from all around the globe. He said those varied groups provided valuable input in putting together ICANN’s new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) program. The gTLD program will greatly expand the current number of 22 Top-Level Domains (i.e., .com, .gov, .net, etc.) to include almost any word or name. But Beckstrom made clear that new gTLDs are not intended for every company or organization, since running a gTLD means an applicant is committing to run an Internet registry – an expensive and highly technical operation. “I want to make clear that ICANN is an organization that is not advocating new gTLDs for anyone,” said Beckstrom. “Our role is merely facilitation to implement the policy and the programs approved by our community, so we are here to educate not to advocate.” Caption: Internet leaders at Brazilian CGI and NIC.br. Left to right are; Demi Getshko - Director of the NIC.br, Frederico Neves - Director of Services and Technology at NIC.br, Rod Beckstrom – Chief Executive Officer of ICANN, Hartmut Glaser - Executive Secretary CGI and Rodrigo de la Parra – Manager of Latin American Relations at ICANN.