Australian to Steer Government Relations at ICANN

An Australian public servant has been appointed chair of the Government Advisory Committee of ICANN, the new global regulatory body for the Internet.

Paul Twomey, CEO of the Australian Federal Government’s National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE), will lead a committee charged with providing advice and counsel to the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers on government-related issues.

ICANN is a non-profit, international organisation created to oversee various core Internet technical management functions. ICANN will be responsible for such issues as coordinating domain name system management, IP address space allocation, and protocol parameter assignment.

One of Twomey’s main responsibilities will be to help determine the structure and mandate of the Government Advisory Committee, which is to act as an independent advisor to ICANN’s board of directors.
This committee will consist of representatives of national governments, multinational governmental organisations, and treaty organisations.

Twomey, who will be based in Australia throughout his ICANN appointment, will remain in his positions at NOIE and as Special Advisor for the Information Economy and Technology.

NOIE is an advisory agency within the Australian Governments Department of Communications, Information Economy and the Arts.