The White House will begin the handover of the Net's technical management to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers on Wednesday.
The birth of the corporation, or ICANN, has been fraught with contention. Last week, it was halted when the White House told the organization it had to become more open and accountable.
"ICANN has addressed most but not all of our concerns, but it's close enough to begin moving ahead," Magaziner said Tuesday. "Tomorrow we will launch a joint project to designate the specifics of the new organization."
In response to White House concerns, the corporation amended its bylaws to ensure, it says, a more open and democratic process.
"We have made a lot of changes to our bylaws in response to the feedback from the White House and interested parties," said Esther Dyson, interim chairman for ICANN. "While everybody in the world is not happy, we believe that we have reached a much broader consensus."
Under the terms of the joint project, ICANN and the Commerce Department will work together to figure out the specific details of the new organization.
"The joint project will not give ICANN immediate responsibility for the Internet," said Magaziner. "It will just give them the go ahead to begin forming the new organization."
According to Magaziner, the White House expects the transition process to go on for as long as two years.
All going well, ICANN will oversee Internet-address allocation, influence technical standards, and set rules for domain-name registration and new top-level domains.
The White House started to apply pressure on ICANN following criticism from a host of Net-based organizations, such as the Boston Working Group.
In response, ICANN has changed its membership structure, increased the transparency of its operations, and enhanced the procedure for independent review.
ICANN also plans to form a volunteer advisory committee to begin the process of becoming a membership organization.
While the organization will not open up its board meetings to the public, it will hold open meetings in conjunction with each regular board of directors meeting, and will introduce a vote by roll-call when voting on "important matters."
Furthermore, ICANN will publish meeting minutes and introduce an appeals process.
"I believe that ... the Boston Group has got some of what it wants," said Ellen Rony, co-author of the domain name handbook. "However it has taken a great deal of negotiation to get this far with ICANN."
According to Rony, Net organizations like the Boston Working Group are now concerned that ICANN will stop listening to them as soon as it gets power."
The transition to the new corporation will be Magaziner's swan song to the White House. He will be packing his bags for private industry in two weeks.
