White Paper

in June 1998 the Department issued a general statement of policy, known as the “White Paper.” The Department stated that because the Internet was rapidly becoming an international medium for commerce, education, and communication, the traditional means of managing its technical functions needed to evolve as well. The White Paper indicated that the U.S. government was committed to a transition that would allow the private sector to take leadership for the management of the domain name system.

The White Paper defined the following four guiding principles for the privatization effort:
 * Stability: The U.S. government should end its role in the domain name system in a manner that ensures the stability of the Internet. During the transition, the stability of the Internet should be the first priority and a comprehensive security strategy should be developed.
 * Competition: Where possible, market mechanisms that support competition and consumer choice should drive the management of the Internet because they will lower costs, promote innovation, encourage diversity, and enhance user choice and satisfaction.
 * Representation: The development of sound, fair, and widely accepted policies for the management of the domain name system will depend on input from the broad and growing community of Internet users. Management structures should reflect the functional and geographic diversity of the Internet and its users.
 * Private, bottom-up coordination: Where coordinated management is needed, responsible private-sector action is preferable to government control. The private process should, as far as possible, reflect the bottom-up governance that has characterized development of the Internet to date.