WASHINGTON -- Official Washington's post-Sept. 11 preoccupation with heightened security measures has finally extended to the underlying structure of the Internet.
The U.S. Congress is planning oversight hearings to investigate the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the troubled nonprofit organization tasked by the Clinton administration with overseeing domain names and Internet addresses.
One reason for the heightened scrutiny of ICANN is a controversial proposal that the group's president circulated in advance of this week's meeting in Accra, Ghana. The turmoil it created exposed how public support for ICANN -- never all that strong -- has waned since the organization's creation in 1998.
For U.S. politicos who have erected their political careers on promises of stability and security, the prospect of radical changes to a body that oversees the sensitive areas of addresses and domain names is something less than palatable.
"More fundamental questions also need to be addressed, such as whether ICANN is even the most appropriate organization to be tasked with such a critical mission, which is central to our national security," wrote Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Montana) in a letter asking for hearings.
Another reason for the hearings, which the House Commerce committee has promised and the Senate Commerce committee is weighing, are long-standing complaints about ICANN's lack of accountability. It has refused to let one of its own board members review its financial information, and many anti-tax Republicans remember ICANN's abortive plans to levy fees on anyone who owns a domain name.
"Commerce does plan to conduct oversight hearings on ICANN later this year," says Ken Johnson, a spokesman for the Republicans on the House Commerce committee. Johnson says the proposal from ICANN president M. Stuart Lynn has legislators worried "that it could lead to a less democratic and open operation than it is today."
It's not a partisan split: Democrats on the House Commerce committee feel the same way.
A spokeswoman for Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, the top Democrat member on the committee, said he and his colleagues "absolutely" support hearings.
"Dingell agrees that major reforms to ICANN are needed. Lynn's proposal is flawed and may move in the wrong direction," said spokeswoman Laura Sheehan. "ICANN is supposed to be open, transparent and responsive. (Lynn's plan) would eliminate elective representation and replace it with more of a bureaucracy."
Sheehan delivered a blunt warning to ICANN: Don't get too cocky. "ICANN is a technical standard-setting body.... (What's) most troubling is that ICANN is injecting itself into policy issues. ICANN should not enter into policy questions," she said.
ICANN responded to questions from Wired News with a brief statement: "We're always happy to try to explain what is ICANN is doing to anyone that wants to hear about it."
Many observers believe that ICANN, which sprang into existence in November 1998 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has strayed too far from its original mission of preserving the stability of the Internet's domain-name system and should be reformed. Until now, the suggestions typically included more participation by the Internet public, greater transparency in board deliberations, and a revamped process through which new top-level domains are added.
Lynn's proposal became an instant catalyst for criticism because it zigs opposite the direction that reformers want: It all but eliminates public participation, increases control by governments and corporations and promises to turn ICANN into a kind of international government-run bureaucracy like the Council of Europe or the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
"ICANN has never done anything but non-technical policy -- it has never done anything that is technical," says Karl Auerbach, the ICANN board member elected to represent North America. Auerbach is seeking to review ICANN's financial records but has been rebuffed so far.
Auerbach says: "ICANN appears to be designed by people who failed 'introduction to organizational design' in high school. And the so-called reorganization plan is nothing less than an overt power grab by ICANN management in an attempt to build a large bureaucratic empire with no oversight from any quarter."
While the House Commerce committee has held ICANN oversight hearings before -- without, it's true, much accomplished -- the Senate has not had the same experience.
Andy Davis, the press secretary for Senate Commerce chairman Fritz Hollings of South Carolina, says the panel's staff "have got to do a little bit more investigating."
When asked to respond to Lynn's plan, Davis said he was "not prepared to answer. There are legitimate concerns and questions. Getting into the specifics of proposals and solutions -- it's just early. A vast number (of committee staff) are not as well versed in this issue. It's going to take some getting up-to-speed."
A spokeswoman for Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the ranking Republican on the committee, said he "supports hearings on ICANN and the opportunity to learn more about the issue."
ICANN's meeting in Accra ends Thursday.
Robert Zarate contributed to this report.
