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Pre exit Web chief views crystal ball

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Vint Cerf – outgoing chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) – has addressed the coming end of his tenure in a video interview that peers into the organisation’s future. In the recording, released to Google and YouTube on 7 May, he describes the kind of employment candidates who would best promote ICANN’s values, and reflects on his unique role at the hub of international computing.

‘If I were looking forward, wondering what kind of people I would want to see serving,’ he said, ‘I would look for people who are sincere in their ability to participate – really are prepared to spend the time that is needed – and who have clear understanding of the functions of ICANN and understand what the limitations are.’

ICANN’s responsibility for setting technical policies in something as huge and global as the Internet made its importance ‘difficult to underestimate,’ Cerf argued. ‘Responsibility for policy has become increasingly important because of the economic impact and because of political implications,’ he said.

He added that ICANN is ‘an invention that I don't believe is mirrored by many other structures in the world … We are inventing new kinds of practices for the establishment of policy … If you really care about how the Internet evolves, then you want to be a part of this apparatus... Your views and perspectives won't be heard unless you participate. An individual can make a difference.’

As a co-founder of ARPANET – the Internet’s predecessor – Cerf has long been considered the father of linked networks. In the 1996 book, Where Wizards Stay Up Late, he explained how his early fascination with computers diverted him from the study of mathematics: ‘You created your own universe and you were master of it. The computer would do anything you programmed it to do. It was this unbelievable sandbox in which every grain of sand was under your control.’

Cerf will leave his post in November. Click here to watch the interview.