The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN
Overview
ICANN was formed in October 1998, and is a non-profit, private-sector organization that was formed by a number of different Internet communities. ICANN is headquartered in Marina del Rey, CA. It operates as a consensus-based body, which represents different communities of the global Internet. ICANN oversees the management of the specific technical functions on the Internet that require central coordination. In short, this is the assignment of the Internet’s unique sets of name and number identifiers.
ICANN Defined
ICANN is a non-profit organization run by 19 volunteer board of directors. It is also comprised of three supporting organizations and several global policy advisory committees. The structure of ICANN is as follows:
· 9 elected directors
· 9 directors supporting the following supporting organizations:
o Domain Name Supporting Organization
o Address Supporting Organization
o Protocol Supporting Organization
· ICANN’s President and CEO
The volunteers at ICANN are working to transition the Internet’s name and number system from the current technical management system, funded by the government, to an international, privatized, non-governmental one. The members of ICANN serve on a number of technical advisory boards and are elected through worldwide online elections. ICANN is a coalition of the Internet’s business, academic, technical, and user communities, which was formed the organization in 1998. It was created by members of the Internet community due to a “white paper” issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce. As the Internet developed and became more widely accessed, government contractors were carrying out DNS functions. This triggered the start of a non-competitive, government-funded system. The Department of Commerce’s “white paper” envisioned a consensus-based, global, non-profit corporation, such as ICANN, to privatize DNS management and open a competitive system. ICANN has earned the broad support of the Internet community in the past three years. It is now regarded as the global consensus entity that coordinates the Internet’s technical management aspects, including:
· Domain name system
· Allocation of IP address space
· Assignment of protocol parameters
· Management of the root server system
Supporting Organizations
ICANN’s three supporting organizations each cover different areas. The Domain Name Supporting Organization deals with the Domain Name System. This is responsible for the catchy, easy to remember names of the sites people log on to on the Internet. The domain name system then translates the name into the IP address numbers that have been specifically assigned to certain computers. The Address Supporting Organization deals with the specific, numeric IP addresses that uniquely identify the networked computers on the Internet. Lastly, the Protocol Supporting Organization deals with the assignment of protocol numbers that allow computers to exchange information and manage communications over the Internet.
Competition
One single provider, Network Solutions, has for years had a monopoly over new domain name registrations and renewals. However, this monopoly was government-granted. In November 1998, ICANN and the Department of Commerce entered an agreement to work together to make the transition from government control to private control run smoothly. So far, ICANN has credited five competitive registrars as part of a test that will permit competition among domain name registrars. Following the test, with a registry agreement with Network Solutions, more than 52 companies around the globe will be eligible to offer registration services, thus creating an open, competitive market. The five competitive registrars that will be part of the test are:
· France Telecom
· America Online
· CORE
· Melbourne IT
· Register.com
The switches to open competition in the domain name registration market will foreseeably lower registration costs and improve consumer choice for both individuals and businesses.
Social Ramifications and Issues
ICANN and the Public
ICANN is an extremely public oriented corporation. It is set on seeking public input, both before, during, and after its decision making process. ICANN was created and developed under public scrutiny. The agendas, minutes, and results of ICANN’s meetings are widely publicized. Quarterly, the board of directors holds a public meeting where all agendas are subject to open public discussion. In addition to being able to preside at an ICANN meeting, members of the public may also join in interactively by email as the meeting is broadcast live over the Internet. After all resolutions, the text is released to the public via a public press conference. This allows for the public to be aware of everything on ICANN’s agenda, as well as to provide their comments and concerns. Though ICANN is very involved with the public, its primary role is a managerial one. ICANN oversees and coordinates the technical functions of the Internet. It plays an important role, however, because without it the Internet would not function properly internally, therefore the Internet would not be accessible.
All in all, the public seems to be in favor of ICANN. One of the factors that is the most appealing is that its elections, meetings, minutes, and agendas are open to the public for debate and input. The public sees ICANN as a useful corporation that is paving the way for further success on the Internet. The fact that ICANN is a non-profit organization is appealing to the public, seeing as how many other corporations work simply for a profit and don’t take the public’s opinions into much consideration.
Related Links
ICANN Home Page
ICANNWatch: This site monitors the tracks of ICANN.
KathleenLisson: This site provides information about voting in the ICANN elections.
www.kathleenlisson.com/icann.html
Berkman Center: This site provides ICANN meeting information.
www.cyber.law.harvard.edu/icann/
Internet Governance: A Look Beyond ICANN
Overview
Governance of internet setting technological standards requires work of technical people. Internet governance involves wider issues than just technical ones. The standards entail major political and economic issues. It is based on means of protection, domination, and exclusion. Governance was initially set by small groups of people of single individuals. The internet culture of the time favored openness and consensus of stakeholders. The rapid expansion of the internet means new standards are being set to involve major decisions determining the whole direction it will move in.
Internet Governance
There are many ways to define and understand Internet Governance. There is not a specific and limited way to define Internet Governance. Each definition has an interesting twist and intriguing way to define this seemingly indefinable term.
Internet Governance may be defined as:
· The organic orderings of society, as opposed to government. A natural organic response to problems mostly of a technical nature. The technical problems have a political and social component. In cyberspace the technical architecture defines the discourse in every instance.
· “To Steer” meaning it has to do with guidance.
· An institution that sets rules of conduct and enforces them.
· A formal structure that governs those who agree to be governed by it, or those that cannot escape being governed by it.
· The action of overseeing and managing and having final decision-making power over a particular activity.
· Some form of regulation of the uses put to and the users of the Internet. Ranging from who gets access to it, to what kinds of content is available under what circumstances, to what legal rules apply on some kind of generic basis.
Social Ramifications and Issues
Internet Governance alters the ways in which the Internet and its many facets are understood. It is necessary for Internet Governance to have ICANN to maintain control and organization. Internet Governance is used to regulate internet uses and form order to what could be very unorganized. Many stresses from law enforcement bodies have been placed on internet governing bodies to increase traceability to collect private on users and pressures to filter harmful content. The bodies governing internet do not agree with the insertion of law enforcement collecting data.
Three Major Internet Standards Bodies:
The three major internet governing bodies include IETF, W3C, and ICANN.
· IETF: Internet Engineering Task Force
· Sets technical standards for the internet
· “loosely self-organized group of people who make technical and other contributions to the engineering and evolution of the internet and technologies”
· Members participate via email, use rough consensus and working-code
· The purpose is to creating and preserve an open and democratic internet society
· The group is limited to those with time and technical knowledge
· W3C: World Wide Web Consortium
· Sets standards for www through html specifications with accessibility, user interface, and architecture
· Participation is restricted to member organizations willing to pay an annual fee of $5,000 to non-profit organization, or “invited experts”
· Open standards were dominated by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of www
· To maintain own personal vision of web as a place for open and free information exchange
· ICANN: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
· Administer internet protocol address and domain name system in 1998
· International participation based on consensus.
· 18 board seats, anyone sit as an “at-large member” and vote in elections
Related Links
The ICANN homepage displays information regarding the topics at hand.
http://www.icann.org
Internet governance project displaying new and current Internet changes.
http://acm.org/serving/IG.html
Articles related to the seven new domain servers.
http://nytimes.com