mr. marby no, we don't. sen. coons: is this a political agenda of this administration or has this enjoyed bipartisan support across several administrations and across a wide range of members of congress? this has been a long-standing commitment of administrations both democratic and republican going back to 1998. sen. coons: one of the questions asked, do we have something to fear is a question i will put you in a different way. what concerned should we have if this transition doesn't go forward? how would other stakeholders act? how would it embolden authoritarian regimes? what is the alternative if we delay this transition? what happens next? mr. strickling: the long-standing debate over internet governance over the last 10 years has been do these stakeholders who built the internet, the businesses, the technical experts, civil society , should they be the ones making decisions about how the internet grows and thrives? they have been the ones doing it and you have to like the record they crea

mr. marby. >> mr. chairman, ranking members of the committee, thank you for inviting me here. i am honored to discuss this important issues and i welcome this opportunity to answer your questions. it marks the next step in the evolution of how the internet addressing system is coordinated. the transition was first envisioned in 1998 when icann was form and supported by democratic and republican administrations since. i'll leave you with one point today. no one controls the internet. you can think about it as a machine with many moving parts. with icann being just one part of that machine. and icann can be replaced in that machine. it has nothing to do with content or freedom of cretion. icann had nothing to do with protecting free speech on the internet. we do not and cannot impact how sovereign states censor within their borders. the internet with its moving technical parts is currently running smoothly. it's a voluntarily arrangement between actors operating on a basis of trust. icann's primary job is to coordinator the top level of the naming and numbering systems. essentia