GAO Rules IANA Transition Not a Transfer of Government Property Requiring Congressional Approval

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GAO Rules IANA Transition Not a Transfer of Government Property Requiring Congressional Approval

By CircleID Reporter
September 13, 2016, 4:37 pm PDT Views: 5,898 Add Comment

The Untied States Government Accountability Office (GAO) has concluded that the IANA transition is not a government transfer of property requiring congressional approval. Critics concerned about the hand-off to a multistakeholder model—and the potential influence of countries like China and Russia—had suggested it was such a property transfer needing Congressional sign-off.

— From the GAO Report: “We find it is unlikely that either the domain name system or the authoritative root zone file (the “address book” for the top-level domain) is U.S. Government property under Article IV. We also find the Government may have certain data rights, and has limited intellectual and tangible property, all of which constitute Article IV property, but that property will be retained and not disposed of in connection with the transition. Finally, the Government has a contractual right to continued performance by the entities carrying out the IANA functions and related services. That right, which also constitutes U.S. Government property, would be disposed of if NTIA terminates the agreements rather than allowing them to expire, but NTIA has the requisite authority to dispose of this Government property interest.”

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