I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2251 

To prohibit the National Telecommunications and Information Administration 

from relinquishing responsibilities with respect to Internet domain name 

functions unless it certifies that it has received a proposal for such 

relinquishment that meets certain criteria, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 12, 2015 

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. MCCAUL, and Mr. JONES) 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 responsibilities 

with respect to Internet domain name functions unless 

it certifies that it has received a proposal for such relinquishment that meets certain criteria, and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Defending Internet 

5 Freedom Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR NTIA RELINQUISHMENT OF 

2 DNS RESPONSIBILITIES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Unless the Assistant Secretary 

4 submits the certification described in subsection (b) to the 

5 appropriate congressional committees— 

6 (1) the Assistant Secretary may not relinquish 

7 the responsibilities of the NTIA with respect to 

8 Internet domain name functions, including responsi9 bility with respect to the authoritative root zone file, 

10 the IANA functions, or the related root zone man11 agement functions; and 

12 (2) the Assistant Secretary shall exercise the 

13 first option period described in paragraph I.70(b) of 

14 the IANA functions contract to extend such contract 

15 through September 30, 2017. 

16 (b) CERTIFICATION DESCRIBED.—The certification 

17 described in this subsection is a written certification that 

18 the Assistant Secretary has received a final proposal for 

19 relinquishing the responsibilities of the NTIA with respect 

20 to Internet domain name functions that ensures the fol21 lowing: 

22 (1) Control over the management of the Inter23 net domain name system will not be exercised by a 

24 governmental or intergovernmental body. 

25 (2) The bylaws of ICANN have been amended 

26 to provide for the following: 


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1 (A) No director or officer of ICANN may 

2 be selected by or represent a governmental or 

3 intergovernmental body. 

4 (B) The board of directors of ICANN is 

5 prohibited from voting on advice or a policy 

6 proposal offered by the Governmental Advisory 

7 Committee unless such Committee reaches con8 sensus regarding such advice or proposal. For 

9 purposes of the preceding sentence, the term 

10 ‘‘consensus’’ means general agreement in the 

11 absence of any formal objection. 

12 (C) ICANN is committed to upholding 

13 freedom of speech, freedom of the press, free14 dom of assembly, and freedom of association 

15 and has adopted and implemented standards 

16 that are at least as protective of such freedoms 

17 as is the First Amendment to the Constitution. 

18 (D) The term ‘‘supermajority’’ is defined 

19 for purposes of the bylaws of ICANN to mean, 

20 with respect to a vote of the board of directors, 

21 an affirmative vote by at least four-fifths of all 

22 directors. 

23 (E) A change in the bylaws of ICANN re24 quires a vote of a supermajority of the board of 

25 directors. 


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1 (F) ICANN has an external, independent 

2 process for reviewing and resolving disputes be3 tween ICANN and external parties, including 

4 members of the multistakeholder community, in 

5 all matters related to the operations and policy 

6 decisions of ICANN. Such process includes the 

7 ability to reverse decisions of the board of direc8 tors. 

9 (G) ICANN shall remain subject to United 

10 States law (including State law) and to the ju11 risdiction of United States courts (including 

12 State courts). 

13 (H) ICANN is prohibited from engaging in 

14 activities unrelated to ICANN’s core mission or 

15 entering into an agreement or modifying an ex16 isting agreement to impose on a registrar or 

17 registry with which ICANN conducts business 

18 any condition (such as a condition relating to 

19 the regulation of content) that is unrelated to 

20 ICANN’s core mission. 

21 (3) ICANN has adopted policies and procedures 

22 for disclosing to the public records and other infor23 mation that are at least as protective of public ac24 cess as the policies and procedures required by sec25 tion 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly 


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1 known as the Freedom of Information Act). The 

2 policies and procedures adopted include a means by 

3 which the denial of a request for access to records 

4 or other information may be appealed through the 

5 independent dispute resolution process described in 

6 paragraph (2)(F). 

7 (4) The United States Government has been 

8 granted ownership of the .gov and .mil top-level do9 mains. 

10 (5) ICANN has adopted, if necessary through 

11 amendment to its bylaws, all additional measures 

12 recommended by the multistakeholder community 

13 through the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordina14 tion Group, the Cross Community Working Group 

15 on Enhancing ICANN Accountability, and the Cross 

16 Community Working Group to Develop an IANA 

17 Stewardship Transition Proposal on Naming Related 

18 Functions. 

19 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

20 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT21 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com22 mittees’’ means the Committee on Energy and Com23 merce of the House of Representatives and the Com24 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 

25 the Senate. 


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1 (2) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist2 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 

3 Commerce for Communications and Information. 

4 (3) IANA FUNCTIONS.—The term ‘‘IANA func5 tions’’ means the Internet Assigned Numbers Au6 thority functions, as described in the IANA func7 tions contract. 

8 (4) IANA FUNCTIONS CONTRACT.—The term 

9 ‘‘IANA functions contract’’ means the contract be10 tween the NTIA and ICANN that became effective 

11 on October 1, 2012, under which ICANN is required 

12 to perform the IANA functions (Contract No. 

13 SA1301–12–CN–0035). 

14 (5) ICANN.—The term ‘‘ICANN’’ means the 

15 Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Num16 bers. 

17 (6) ICANN’S CORE MISSION.—The term 

18 ‘‘ICANN’s core mission’’ means managing the IANA 

19 functions and proposing and overseeing policy deci20 sions central to coordinating the global interoper21 ability and uniqueness of Internet domain names. 

22 (7) NTIA.—The term ‘‘NTIA’’ means the Na23 tional Telecommunications and Information Admin24 istration. 


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1 (8) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

2 the several States, the District of Columbia, each 

3 commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United 

4 States, and each federally recognized Indian tribe. 

Æ 


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