I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 805 

To prohibit the National Telecommunications and Information Administration 

from relinquishing responsibility over the Internet domain name system 

until the Comptroller General of the United States submits to Congress 

a report on the role of the NTIA with respect to such system. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 5, 2015 

Mr. SHIMKUS (for himself, Mr. BARTON, Mr. CRAMER, Mrs. ELLMERS, Mr. 

LANCE, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. NUGENT, Mr. BUCSHON, 

Mr. KLINE, Mr. WALDEN, Mr. ROKITA, Mr. LATTA, and Mr. LONG) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To prohibit the National Telecommunications and Information Administration from relinquishing responsibility over 

the Internet domain name system until the Comptroller 

General of the United States submits to Congress a 

report on the role of the NTIA with respect to such 

system. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Domain Openness 

3 Through Continued Oversight Matters Act of 2015’’ or 

4 the ‘‘DOTCOM Act of 2015’’. 

5 SEC. 2. NTIA RETENTION OF DNS RESPONSIBILITIES PEND6 ING GAO REPORT. 

7 (a) RETENTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES.—Until the 

8 Comptroller General of the United States submits the re9 port required by subsection (b), the Assistant Secretary 

10 of Commerce for Communications and Information may 

11 not relinquish or agree to any proposal relating to the re12 linquishment of the responsibility of the National Tele13 communications and Information Administration (in this 

14 section referred to as the ‘‘NTIA’’) over Internet domain 

15 name system functions, including responsibility with re16 spect to the authoritative root zone file, the Internet As17 signed Numbers Authority functions, and related root 

18 zone management functions. 

19 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

20 on which the NTIA receives a proposal relating to the re21 linquishment of the responsibility of the NTIA over Inter22 net domain name system functions that was developed in 

23 a process convened by the Internet Corporation for As24 signed Names and Numbers at the request of the NTIA, 

25 the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit 

26 to Congress a report on the role of the NTIA with respect 


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1 to the Internet domain name system. Such report shall 

2 include— 

3 (1) a discussion and analysis of— 

4 (A) the advantages and disadvantages of 

5 relinquishment of the responsibility of the 

6 NTIA over Internet domain name system func7 tions, including responsibility with respect to 

8 the authoritative root zone file, the Internet As9 signed Numbers Authority functions, and re10 lated root zone management functions; 

11 (B) any principles or criteria that the 

12 NTIA sets for proposals for such relinquish13 ment; 

14 (C) each proposal received by the NTIA 

15 for such relinquishment; 

16 (D) the processes used by the NTIA and 

17 any other Federal agencies for evaluating such 

18 proposals; 

19 (E) any national security concerns raised 

20 by such relinquishment; and 

21 (F) any concerns raised by such relinquish22 ment with respect to the security of the Inter23 net domain name system or the security of 

24 other information networks and systems; and 


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1 (2) a definition of the term ‘‘multistakeholder 

2 model’’, as used by the NTIA with respect to Inter3 net policymaking and governance, and definitions of 

4 any other terms necessary to understand the matters 

5 covered by the report. 

Æ 


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