US SENATE JUDICIARY SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016“I urge you: Do not give a gift to Russia and other authoritarian nations by blocking this transition,” Lawrence Strickling, administrator of the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said on Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing Held on IANA Transition. – Dustin Volz reporting in Reuters

— “Sen. Ted Cruz warned Commerce Department officials they could face jail time for their efforts to hand control of the internet’s domain name system to an international group, saying they violated congressional funding restrictions. ... employees are at risk of ‘personal criminal liability of up to two years in prison’ because, he alleged, they overstepped provisions in the last government spending bill that prevent them from using funds to carry out the transition.” – Ashley Gold reporting in Politico

— “Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley accused the Obama administration of ending the government’s role ‘for political reasons’ and said there are significant unanswered questions about whether the transfer yields ‘an unconstitutional transfer of United States government property.’ He worries ICANN could eventually be susceptible to corruption and that the planned transfer is ‘misguided, and at best, premature.’ – Washington correspondent, Katie Leslie reporting in the Dallas Morning News

— Leslie: “Steve Del Bianco, the executive director of Netchoice, a trade association of eCommerce businesses, warned against the U.S. breaking its 18-year-long commitment. ... ‘What is the real reason to defer the transition? That’s the question we didn’t really learn today,’ he said following the hearing. ‘There seems to be some hope of retaining a level of control we never had.’”