Internet Governance Goes Global

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

07 October 2009

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body responsible for assigning internet addresses or domain names, has been reconstituted into a global private-sector non-profit making organization. The US Department of Commerce no longer has sole control over this entity, which is so important to the overall functioning of the internet.

ICANN was created in 1998, with the assistance of the United States government, its objective being the coordination of the Internet's addresses. The organization's new constitution, called the Affirmation of Commitments, commits ICANN to:

• maintain the capacity and ability to coordinate the Internet Domain Name Servers (DNS) at the overall level and to work for the maintenance of a single, interoperable Internet;
• remain a not for profit corporation, headquartered in the United States of America with offices around the world to meet the needs of a global community;
• operate as a multi-stakeholder, private sector led organization with input from the public;
• ensure that decisions made related to the global technical coordination of the DNS are made in the public interest and are accountable and transparent;
• preserve the security, stability and resiliency of the DNS;
• promote competition, consumer trust, and consumer choice in the DNS marketplace; and
• facilitate international participation in DNS technical coordination.

As of September 30, ICANN will be subject to review by independent panels appointed by ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) and ICANN itself with the involvement of governments around the world. In June 2009, the European Commission issued a policy document calling for improvement of ICANN's accountability to the international community, the transparency of its decision making and a clearer role of governments in defining ICANN's public policy.

At the same time ICANN has published its final implementation plan for the liberalization of 'non-contentious internationalized country-code top level domain names' (IDN ccTLDs). The process is expected to be launched after positive consideration by the ICANN Board at their meeting in Seoul, Korea on October 30, 2009. Top level domain names (TLDs) such as '.com' could be increased in number and major organizations, who are willing to pay perhaps more than USD100,000, may have the right to personalize their domain name with an appropriate TLD - eg apple.mac.

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