Since the early days of the internet, it has fallen under control of ICANN, which in turn was bound by an agreement with the US Department of Commerce. As the internet grew bigger and more pervasive, intentional calls for severing the ties between ICANN and the US government grew stronger. Today, the US has ceded control over ICANN.
Instead of the United States governmentbeing the sole nation, there will now a be a system of global oversight, where the US is one of many nations overseeing the process which governs the internet and ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).
“ICANN is accountable to the world and that’s as it should be, since ICANN is a global international organization,” Paul Levins, executive officer and vice president of corporate affairs at ICANN, told InternetNews.com, “But don’t get me wrong, this is not Independence Day. We’ve been independent since we’ve been born, since 1998, when we were established as a non-profit organization.”
Under the previous agreement, ICANN was subject to yearly reviews by the Department of Commerce. From now on, a body of nations will review ICANN’s operations every three years. The US will be but one party in this multinational process.
“It’s a huge step forward with no more reviews by one entity, no more temporary endorsement of the model,” Levins said, “We’re now looking at a very firm declaration by ICANN and the US government that says this is the right model to manage this global resource on behalf of the globe and that’s a fantastic outcome.”
While I always found it morally rather odd that the US government had so much influence over the internet, the fact of the matter is that the US and ICANN have done quite a fine job of keeping the internet running and maintaining its openness. Making changes like this, while morally okay, might be practically a little less okay.
Time will tell if these changes will have any effect whatsoever on the internet.
About time to the control be handed over to ICANN.
…and it couldn’t be in a better day, Blasphemy Day.
…today is all about freedom!
At least there was only one entity making decisions. Now everything will be done (or not done) by committee. It could become a big mess as politics become more important than technology.
I’m with you on this one brother. Now it’ll be a mess as every country out there tries to exert their influence. I wonder what will happen if China gets a part to play in all of this? At best, censorship and site filtering. Not to mention the squabbling and deadlock that will occur with several other nations now involved.
US congress is more then one entity …
You did not read the article or know ICANN history it seem.
ICANN is stil in charge of implementation, it’s like GM passing from shareholder to the government, the people making the cars are still the same, they just answer questions by a different group, they usually did what they wanted, regardless of US wants ( .XXX domain as example ) …
Edited 2009-09-30 20:46 UTC
Yeah, but that may not have that same freedom in the future especially if political pressure start to rear it head in the process and the organization turns into a political turf war where each nation (especially the EU, China, and the US) decide to use it to show who has the biggest piece. Its happened before.
what’s that song by R.E.M.
oh yeah …
(singing) it’s the end of the world as we know it. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine (singing)
“While I always found it morally rather odd that the US government had so much influence over the internet,…”
Morally odd, maybe, but since ARPA in the US begat the Internet, it has some logic.
“…the fact of the matter is that the US and ICANN have done quite a fine job of keeping the internet running and maintaining its openness. Making changes like this, while morally okay, might be practically a little less okay.”
I agree. I hope the “world oversight committee” (or whatever it will be called) mostly stays out of the way and lets ICANN do its job. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Thanks for the objective comments.