Vint Cerf, who is considered to be one of the Internet’s founder fathers, will step down as the chairman of ICANN’s board of directors after the ICANN Los Angeles 2007 meeting. He will remain “chief Internet evangelist” at Google, though, and the Associated Press reports that Cerf is also currently working on five books, only one of which will be about the Internet. In the AP article Cerf says he has spent 25-40 percent of his time on ICANN business and that he is looking forward to having the time back. On ICANN having to get along without him he says:

“I absolutely need this time back, and I don’t want to hover over the process. I want them to feel the pressure to organize themselves and not imagine they can turn back and look for guidance from me. They really should demonstrate that the organization is sufficiently strong and can survive the changes.”

The Register has another interview with Vint Cerf about his views on the future of the Internet and of ICANN.