i2Coalition Listed Among Top 10 Lobbying Victories Of 2016

The i2Coalition is honored to be included on this year’s list of the top 10 lobbying victories of 2016, presented by The Hill newspaper in Washington, DC. Our (along with many other partners’) IANA Transition lobbying win was highlighted for protecting the open internet worldwide.

Contrary to popular belief, lobbying is not inherently bad. As with most things, influence can be used for positive and negative reasons. The purest goal of a lobbyist is to give voice to a person or group who doesn’t have the time or ability to speak for themselves. In the case of the Internet’s infrastructure, we work hard to provide that collective voice for our members.

We are proud to be the voice of our members, who have helped us amplify and wield that voice. The growing effectiveness of that voice is critical, as we gear up to play a vital role in protecting and preserving the industry in 2017 and beyond.

The article section on the IANA Transition win from TheHill.com:

 

Internet Oversight

A years long effort by the government to hand over oversight of the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to a group of global stakeholders was in doubt when a group of lawmakers — led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a former 2016 candidate for president — fought to stop the transition. Cruz called it a “giveaway of our internet freedom.” Proponents in the tech industry argued that the transition was an overdue, necessary step to keep the internet open, while still offering safeguards against abuse by any one country.

 

Winners: ICANN; Information Technology Industry Council; the Internet Association and some of its members, including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Twitter; the Internet Infrastructure Coalition; The Domain Name Association; and the American Registry for Internet Numbers, among others.

You can see the full story here:

Top 10 lobbying victories of 2016

Lawmakers were often away from Washington in 2016, making legislative victories hard to come by. The whirlwind presidential campaign that ended in the election of Donald Trump Donald Trump We can elect the next president by popular vote – without amending the Constitution Trump announces choice of Perry as Energy secretary Oil bubbles back to top with Trump MORE contributed to the dearth of activity in Congress, making lobbyists hustle during periods where policymakers were in town.

 

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Update:

This development was covered by the Web Hosting Industry Review.

Top Lobbying Victories in 2016 Recognizes i2Coalition, IANA Transition

The IANA transition, and the i2Coalition, have been recognized by DC-based political publication The Hill as one of the top lobbying victories of 2016. ICANN, the Information Technology Industry Council, the Internet Association, and the Domain Name Association were also counted among winners in the lobbying effort.