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) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce 
A BILL 
To prohibit the National Telecommunications and Informa-
tion Administration from relinquishing responsibilities 
with respect to Internet domain name functions unless 
it certifies that it has received a proposal for such relin-
quishment that meets certain criteria, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Defending Internet 
Freedom Act of 2015’’. 
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SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR NTIA RELINQUISHMENT OF 
DNS RESPONSIBILITIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Unless the Assistant Secretary 
submits the certification described in subsection (b) to the 
appropriate congressional committees— 
(1) the Assistant Secretary may not relinquish 
the responsibilities of the NTIA with respect to 
Internet domain name functions, including responsi-
bility with respect to the authoritative root zone file, 
the IANA functions, or the related root zone man-
agement functions; and 
(2) the Assistant Secretary shall exercise the 
first option period described in paragraph I.70(b) of 
the IANA functions contract to extend such contract 
through September 30, 2017. 
(b) CERTIFICATION DESCRIBED.—The certification 
described in this subsection is a written certification that 
the Assistant Secretary has received a final proposal for 
relinquishing the responsibilities of the NTIA with respect 
to Internet domain name functions that ensures the fol-
lowing: 
(1) Control over the management of the Inter-
net domain name system will not be exercised by a 
governmental or intergovernmental body. 
(2) The bylaws of ICANN have been amended 
to provide for the following: 
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(A) No director or officer of ICANN may 
be selected by or represent a governmental or 
intergovernmental body. 
(B) The board of directors of ICANN is 
prohibited from voting on advice or a policy 
proposal offered by the Governmental Advisory 
Committee unless such Committee reaches con-
sensus regarding such advice or proposal. For 
purposes of the preceding sentence, the term 
‘‘consensus’’ means general agreement in the 
absence of any formal objection. 
(C) ICANN is committed to upholding 
freedom of speech, freedom of the press, free-
dom of assembly, and freedom of association 
and has adopted and implemented standards 
that are at least as protective of such freedoms 
as is the First Amendment to the Constitution. 
(D) The term ‘‘supermajority’’ is defined 
for purposes of the bylaws of ICANN to mean, 
with respect to a vote of the board of directors, 
an affirmative vote by at least four-fifths of all 
directors. 
(E) A change in the bylaws of ICANN re-
quires a vote of a supermajority of the board of 
directors. 
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(F) ICANN has an external, independent 
process for reviewing and resolving disputes be-
tween ICANN and external parties, including 
members of the multistakeholder community, in 
all matters related to the operations and policy 
decisions of ICANN. Such process includes the 
ability to reverse decisions of the board of direc-
tors. 
(G) ICANN shall remain subject to United 
States law (including State law) and to the ju-
risdiction of United States courts (including 
State courts). 
(H) ICANN is prohibited from engaging in 
activities unrelated to ICANN’s core mission or 
entering into an agreement or modifying an ex-
isting agreement to impose on a registrar or 
registry with which ICANN conducts business 
any condition (such as a condition relating to 
the regulation of content) that is unrelated to 
ICANN’s core mission. 
(3) ICANN has adopted policies and procedures 
for disclosing to the public records and other infor-
mation that are at least as protective of public ac-
cess as the policies and procedures required by sec-
tion 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly 
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known as the Freedom of Information Act). The 
policies and procedures adopted include a means by 
which the denial of a request for access to records 
or other information may be appealed through the 
independent dispute resolution process described in 
paragraph (2)(F). 
(4) The United States Government has been 
granted ownership of the .gov and .mil top-level do-
mains. 
(5) ICANN has adopted, if necessary through 
amendment to its bylaws, all additional measures 
recommended by the multistakeholder community 
through the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordina-
tion Group, the Cross Community Working Group 
on Enhancing ICANN Accountability, and the Cross 
Community Working Group to Develop an IANA 
Stewardship Transition Proposal on Naming Related 
Functions. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means the Committee on Energy and Com-
merce of the House of Representatives and the Com-
mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 
the Senate. 
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(2) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist-
ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 
Commerce for Communications and Information. 
(3) IANA FUNCTIONS.—The term ‘‘IANA func-
tions’’ means the Internet Assigned Numbers Au-
thority functions, as described in the IANA func-
tions contract. 
(4) IANA FUNCTIONS
CONTRACT.—The term 
‘‘IANA functions contract’’ means the contract be-
tween the NTIA and ICANN that became effective 
on October 1, 2012, under which ICANN is required 
to perform the IANA functions (Contract No. 
SA1301–12–CN–0035). 
(5) ICANN.—The term ‘‘ICANN’’ means the 
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Num-
bers. 
(6) 
ICANN’S
CORE
MISSION.—The 
term 
‘‘ICANN’s core mission’’ means managing the IANA 
functions and proposing and overseeing policy deci-
sions central to coordinating the global interoper-
ability and uniqueness of Internet domain names. 
(7) NTIA.—The term ‘‘NTIA’’ means the Na-
tional Telecommunications and Information Admin-
istration. 
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(8) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 
the several States, the District of Columbia, each 
commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United 
States, and each federally recognized Indian tribe. 
Æ 
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