Surprising Things in Today's Hearing
The ICANN Congressional hearings -- like most all Congressional hearings -- are typically dull. The testimony is scripted and well rehearsed, and little new information comes out. Today's hearing was no different. The interesting moments, all of which were unscripted in response to questions, came when:
- John Kneuer, NTIA, testified that ICANN staff and DOC/NTIA staff confer weekly, often daily, about ICANN's work and progress on the MOU. He also said that he and his staff meet regularly with ICANN stakeholders about ICANN's work.
- Mr. Kneuer and Paul Twomey suggested that the reason ICANN's strategic plan hadn't been released to the public yet (almost a year after the first draft circulated privately) might have something to do with confidentiality and trade secrets.
- Bill Manning, ISI, noted that the greatest threats to the stability of the Internet were the users.