[council] [centr-fm] US House committee to hold ICANN hearings in February

["Paul M. Kane" <Paul.Kane@reacto.com>]

You may be interested in the following copy email I received on
Friday...... (I have permission to circulate!)

Best

Paul
<><><><>
Energy and Commerce Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-LA) and U.S. Rep. Fred
Upton
(R-MI) sent the following letter today to ICANN CEO Mike Roberts:

January 12, 2001



Michael M. Roberts
President and Chief Executive Officer
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
4674 Admiralty Way, Ste. 330
Marina del Rey, CA 90292



Dear Mr. Roberts:

The Committee on Energy and Commerce is continuing its oversight of the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). As you may
recall, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the
Committee on Commerce held a hearing on July 22, 1999, to examine the
issue of domain name system privatization.

In connection with our continuing review, we have been monitoring the
process by which ICANN arrived at its decision in November to approve
seven suffixes: .aero, .coop, .info, .museum, .name, .pro, and .biz.
There have been a number of reports that ICANN's process to create a new
generation of Internet domain name suffixes may be thwarting competition
in the
registration and assignment of Internet domain names. As the Committee
of jurisdiction over this issue, the Committee wants to ensure that this
process is open and fair, and most important, successfully sparks
competition. To that end, we are gathering facts in preparation for a
Subcommittee on Telecommunications hearing in February to examine the
process by which ICANN selects Internet domain name suffixes.

Accordingly, we request that you contact Chairman Tauzin's
telecommunications counsel, Jessica Wallace, to arrange a time to
jointly brief committee staff at your earliest convenience.

        Sincerely,



        Billy Tauzin,
        Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce



        Fred Upton
        Member of Congress