Bill > HR4367

This bill, the Internet Stewardship Act of 2014, prohibits the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, who heads the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), from giving up or agreeing to give up its responsibilities related to Internet domain name functions. These functions include managing the authoritative root zone file, which is the master list of top-level domains like .com or .org, and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions, which are crucial for coordinating unique identifiers on the internet. The bill specifies that such a relinquishment is only allowed if a new law, passed after this Act becomes law, explicitly permits it, thereby ensuring that any transfer of these critical internet governance roles requires specific congressional approval.