ICANN set to meet in Hyderabad, India for Internet Governance

By Nandita Singh

BENGALURU: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is holding its 57^th meeting in Hyderabad, India (Nov 3-9, 2016). It is the organization’s first annual meeting after the US ceded control of Internet Governance to ICANN, on September 30, 2016.

Following the decision to cede US Government control on Internet policy, four states of USA (Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma and Nevada) had contested the move and filed a lawsuit in Texas against the US Government to block the transition after they failed to get Congress block the move. Now, these states have voluntarily dropped the lawsuit, earlier this week, paving way for global stakeholders to play a greater role in evolving the future of Internet.

The Hyderabad meeting (ICANN57), is being hosted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), with support from the Government of Telangana. Here international stakeholders from the government, business, civil society, non-government organizations, research institutions, technical communities among others will discuss a broad range of Internet-related topics and develop policies for the Domain Name System.

“Some of the topics that will be discussed at the Hyderabad meeting include: Internet governance, enhancing accountability of ICANN, ongoing work to embrace a multilingual Internet, in particular the Neo-Brahmi scripts, as well as updates on the new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) Program,” said Jia-Rong Low, Vice President & Managing Director of ICANN Asia Pacific at a pre-event media interaction organized at Hyderabad.

ICANN meetings are held three times a year in different regions to enable attendees from around the world to participate in person. These meetings offer a variety of sessions such as workshops, open forums and working meetings on the development and implementation of Internet policies enabling face-to-face discussions and exchange of opinions among attendees dedicated to the continued stable and secure operation of the Domain Name System.

“We are very pleased that the ICANN57 meeting is being held in India. We welcome all the delegates to this meeting. This 57^th meeting is historic because it is the first meeting post the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) stewardship transition. This meeting represents our continued interest in Internet governance and synchronizes well with the Digital India program of the Government of India,” said Rahul Gosain, Director of MeitY.

MeitY’s mission is to promote inclusive and sustainable growth of the electronics, enhance India’s role in Internet governance and enhance efficiency through digital services and a secure cyber space.

“The Government of Telangana looks forward to welcoming the international delegates to Hyderabad. We also encourage our local communities, from students to businesses and academia, to come, attend and take part in ICANN57,” said Jayesh Ranjan, Secretary to Government of Telangana, Information Technology, Electronics and Communications (ITE&C) Department.

Union Minister for Information Technology and Law & Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad and K Chandrashekhar Rao, Chief Minister of Telangana (the newly-constituted 29^th State of India with Hyderabad as its capital) will address attendees at ICANN57’s opening ceremony on November 5, 2016.

Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, ICANN President and CEO Göran Marby and ICANN Board Chair Dr Stephen D Crocker will also meet and respond to journalists’ questions at a news conference on the same day.

About 2,000 delegates from 80 countries are expected to participate in this conference that leads to crucial Internet Governance related policy decisions.