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ICANN
ICANN Logo
Founded September 18, 1998
Headquarters Marina Del Rey, California
Focus Assignment of domain names and IP addresses
Website www.icann.org
ICANN headquarters
ICANN headquarters

ICANN (pronounced /aɪkæn/, eye-can) is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Events 96 - Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) Marina del Rey is a seaside Unincorporated area of Los Angeles County California. In Computer networking, a domain name is a name given to a collection of network devices that belong to a domain which is an administrative space managed according An Internet Protocol ( IP) address is a numerical identification ( Logical address) that is assigned to devices participating in a Computer network A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages Headquartered in Marina Del Rey, California, ICANN is a California non-profit corporation that was created on September 18, 1998 in order to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly on behalf of the U.S. Government by other organizations, notably IANA. Marina del Rey is a seaside Unincorporated area of Los Angeles County California. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. A non-profit organization ( abbreviated "NPO" also "not-for-profit" is a legally constituted Organization whose objective is to support or engage A corporation is a separate legal entity usually used to conduct business Events 96 - Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks The federal government of the United States is the central United States Governmental body established by the United States Constitution. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA is the entity that oversees global IP address allocation, DNS root zone management, media types

The tasks of ICANN include managing the assignment of domain names and IP addresses. In Computer networking, a domain name is a name given to a collection of network devices that belong to a domain which is an administrative space managed according An Internet Protocol ( IP) address is a numerical identification ( Logical address) that is assigned to devices participating in a Computer network To date, much of its work has concerned the introduction of new generic top-level domains. The technical work of ICANN is referred to as the IANA function; the rest of ICANN is mostly concerned with defining policy. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA is the entity that oversees global IP address allocation, DNS root zone management, media types

On September 29, 2006, ICANN signed a new agreement with the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) that is a step forward toward the full management of the Internet's system of centrally coordinated identifiers through the multi-stakeholder model of consultation that ICANN represents. Events 522 BC - Darius I of Persia kills the Magian usurper Gaumâta securing his hold as king of the Persian Empire. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The United States Department of Commerce is the Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting Economic growth [1]

Paul Twomey is the President/CEO of ICANN, since March 27, 2003. Paul Twomey (born 18 July 1961) is the Chief Executive Officer and President of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN Events 196 BC - Ptolemy V ascends to the throne of Egypt. 1309 - Pope Clement V excommunicates Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. As of November 3, 2007 Peter Dengate Thrush replaced Vint Cerf as Chairman of the ICANN Board of Directors[2] . Peter Dengate Thrush (born 1956) is a New Zealand Barrister specialising Internet law. Vinton Gray "Vint" Cerf His contributions have been recognized repeatedly with honorary degrees and awards that include the National Medal of Technology, and

Contents

Structure

At present, ICANN is formally organized as a non-profit corporation "for charitable and public purposes" under the California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law. It is managed by a Board of Directors, which is composed of six representatives of the Supporting Organizations, sub-groups that deal with specific sections of the policies under ICANN's purview; eight independent representatives of the general public interest, selected through a Nominating Committee in which all the constituencies of ICANN are represented; and the President and CEO, appointed by the rest of the Board.

There are currently three Supporting Organizations: the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) deals with policy making on generic top-level domains (gTLDs); the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) deals with policy making on country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs); the Address Supporting Organization (ASO) deals with policy making on IP addresses. History The initial set of top-level domains defined by RFC 920 in October 1984 was a set of "general purpose domains" The Country Code Names Supporting Organization ( ccNSO) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN is the policy-development body for a narrow A country The Address Supporting Organization (ASO is a supporting organization affiliated with ICANN.

ICANN also relies on some advisory committees to receive advice on the interests and needs of stakeholders that do not directly participate in the Supporting Organizations. These include the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), which is composed of representatives of a great number of national governments from all the world; the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), which is composed of representatives of organizations of individual Internet users from all the world; the Root Server System Advisory Committee, providing advice on the operation of the DNS root server system; the Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC), composed of Internet experts who study security issues pertaining to ICANN's mandate; and the Technical Liaison Group (TLG), composed of representatives of other international technical organizations of the Internet. The At-Large Advisory Committee ( ALAC) is an advisory committee to ICANN, the organization that administers the Internet's Domain Name System and addressing

Procedures

ICANN holds periodic public meetings rotated between continents for the expressed purpose of encouraging global participation in its processes. Critics argue that the locations of these meetings are often in countries with lower Internet usage and far away from locations that the majority of the Internet-using public can afford to reach, thus making public input or participation from traditional Internet users less likely. Supporters reply that ICANN has a worldwide remit and a key part of its mission is to build Internet use where it is weak.

ICANN was set up in California due to the presence of Jon Postel, who was a founder of ICANN and was set to be its first CTO prior to his unexpected death. Jonathan Bruce Postel (pəˈstɛl August 6 1943 – October 16 1998 made many significant contributions to the development of the Internet, particularly in the area ICANN remains in the same building where he worked, which is home to an office of the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California. The Information Sciences Institute ( ISI) of the University of Southern California (USC is a prominent research organization in the field of Information science The University of Southern California (commonly referred to as USC, SC, Southern California, and incorrectly

Resolutions of the ICANN Board, preliminary reports and minutes of the meetings are published for the public to view on the ICANN website. However there are criticisms from ICANN constituencies like Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC) and At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) that there is not enough public disclosure and that too many discussions take place out of sight of the public. The At-Large Advisory Committee ( ALAC) is an advisory committee to ICANN, the organization that administers the Internet's Domain Name System and addressing

UDRP

One task that ICANN was asked to do was to address the issue of domain name ownership resolution for generic top-level domains (gTLDs). History The initial set of top-level domains defined by RFC 920 in October 1984 was a set of "general purpose domains" ICANN's attempt at such a policy was drafted in close cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the result has now become known as the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). The World Intellectual Property Organization ( WIPO) is one of the 16 specialized agencies of the United Nations.

This policy essentially attempts to provide a mechanism for rapid, cheap and reasonable resolution of domain name conflicts, avoiding the traditional court system for disputes by allowing cases to be brought to one of a set of bodies that arbitrate domain name disputes. According to ICANN policy, a domain registrant must agree to be bound by the UDRP — they cannot get a domain name without agreeing to this.

A look at the UDRP decision patterns has led some[3] to conclude that compulsory domain name arbitration is less likely to give a fair hearing to domain name owners asserting defenses under the First Amendment and other laws, compared to the federal courts of appeal in particular.

Notable events in history

The original mandate for ICANN came from the United States Government, spanning the presidential administrations of both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III, August 19 1946 served as the forty-second President of the United States George Walker Bush ( born July 6 1946 is the forty-third and current President of the United States. On January 30, 1998, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency of the US Department of Commerce, issued for comment, "A Proposal to Improve the Technical Management of Internet Names and Addresses". Events 1648 - Eighty Years' War: The Treaty of Münster is signed ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) The United States Department of Commerce is the Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting Economic growth The proposed rule making, or "Green Paper", was published in the Federal Register on February 20, 1998, providing opportunity for public comment. Events 1472 - Orkney and Shetland are left by Norway to Scotland, due to a Dowry payment Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) NTIA received more than 650 comments, as of March 23, 1998, when the comment period closed. Events 1174 - Jocelin, Abbot of Melrose, is elected Bishop of Glasgow. Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar)

The Green Paper proposed certain actions designed to privatize the management of Internet names and addresses in a manner that allows for the development of robust competition and facilitates global participation in Internet management. The Green Paper proposed for discussion a variety of issues relating to DNS management including private sector creation of a new not-for-profit corporation (the "new corporation") managed by a globally and functionally representative Board of Directors. ICANN was formed in response to this policy. The IANA function currently exists under a remit from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The United States Department of Commerce is the Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting Economic growth

On March 14, 2002, in a public meeting in Accra, in Ghana, ICANN decided to reduce direct public ("at large") participation. Events 1489 - The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Accra is the capital, and most populous city of Ghana. The city also doubles as the capital of the Greater The Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa. It borders Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast to the west Burkina Faso to the north Togo to the

One of a few publicly elected board members, Karl Auerbach, sued ICANN in Superior Court in California in order to see accounting records without being required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. A non-disclosure agreement (NDA also known as a confidentiality agreement, confidential disclosure agreement (CDA proprietary information agreement The records were ultimately released to the public in August 2002. August 2002: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September

In September and October 2003 ICANN played a crucial role in the conflict over VeriSign's "wild card" DNS service Site Finder. VeriSign Inc ( is an American company based in Mountain View California that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure including two of the Site Finder was a Wildcard DNS record for all.com and.net unregistered domain names run by. After an open letter from ICANN issuing an ultimatum to VeriSign, the company voluntarily shut down the service on October 4, 2003. Events 610 - Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. Following this step VeriSign filed a lawsuit against ICANN on February 27, 2004, claiming that ICANN had overstepped its authority, seeking through the suit to reduce ambiguity over ICANN's authority. Events 1560 - The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " The anti-trust component of VeriSign's claim was dismissed in August 2004. VeriSign's broader challenge that ICANN overstepped its contractual rights is currently outstanding, although a proposed settlement approved by ICANN's board would drop VeriSign's challenge to ICANN in exchange for the right to increase pricing on . COM domains.

At the meeting of ICANN in Rome taking place from March 2 to March 6, 2004, ICANN agreed to ask approval of the US Department of Commerce for the Waiting List Service of VeriSign. Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Events 986 - Louis V becomes King of the Franks. 1127 - Assassination of Charles the Good Events 1079 - Omar Khayyám completes the Iranian calendar. 1454 - Thirteen Years' War: Delegates of "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " The United States Department of Commerce is the Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting Economic growth A wait-listing service (WLS provided by a Domain name registry provides the ability to option a Domain name that is already registered

On May 17, 2004, ICANN published a proposed budget for the year 2004-05. Events 1521 - Edward Stafford 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for Treason. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " It included proposals to increase the openness and professionalism of its operations, and greatly increased its proposed spending, from US $8. 27m to $15. 83m. The increase was to be funded by the introduction of new top-level domains, charges to domain registries, and a fee for some domain name registrations, renewals and transfers (initially USD 0. A domain name registry, also called Network Information Centre (NIC is part of the Domain Name System (DNS of the Internet which converts Domain 20 for all domains within a country-code top-level domain, and USD 0. 25 for all others). The Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries (CENTR), which represents the Internet registries of 39 countries, rejected the increase, accusing ICANN of a lack of financial prudence and criticising what it describes as ICANN's "unrealistic political and operational targets". The Council of European National Top-Level Domain Registries ( CENTR) is an association of Internet country code top-level domain registries. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA is the entity that oversees global IP address allocation, DNS root zone management, media types Despite the criticism, the registry agreement for the top-level domains . JOBS and . TRAVEL includes a US $2 fee on every domain the licensed companies sell or renew. [4]

Along with the successful negotiations of the .TRAVEL and .JOBS namespace, .MOBI, and .CAT are some of the new top-level domains introduced by ICANN. The additional introduction of the .EU Top Level Domain to the root, and the proposed .ASIA multiregional suffix are developments to watch.

After an extensive build-up that saw speculation that the United Nations might signal a takeover of ICANN,[5] the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia in November 2005 agreed not to get involved in the day-to-day and technical operations of ICANN. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS was a pair of United Nations -sponsored conferences about Information, Communication and in broad terms Tunisia (تونس Tūnis officially the Tunisian Republic ( is a country located in North Africa. However it also agreed to set up an international Internet Governance Forum, with a consultative role on the future governance of the Internet. The Internet Governance Forum ( IGF) is a multi-stakeholder forum for policy dialogue on issues of Internet governance. ICANN's Government Advisory Committee or GAC, is currently set up to provide advice to ICANN regarding public policy issues and has participation by many of the world's governments.

ICANN meeting, Los Angeles USA, 2007. The sign refers to Vint Cerf, then Chairman of the Board of Directors, who is working on the Interplanetary Internet.
ICANN meeting, Los Angeles USA, 2007. Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West The sign refers to Vint Cerf, then Chairman of the Board of Directors, who is working on the Interplanetary Internet. Vinton Gray "Vint" Cerf His contributions have been recognized repeatedly with honorary degrees and awards that include the National Medal of Technology, and The Interplanetary Internet, as presently conceived is a set of floating nodes in space which can communicate with each other

On February 28, 2006, ICANN's board approved a settlement with VeriSign in the lawsuit resulting from SiteFinder that involved allowing VeriSign (the registry) to raise its registration fees by up to 7% a year. Events 202 BC - coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty 's rule Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. [6] This was criticised by some people in the US House of Representatives' Small Business committee. The United States House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress; the other is the Senate. The US Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship is a Standing committee of the United States Senate. [7]

On May 10, 2006 ICANN failed to approve a plan for a new ".xxx" suffix that would have been designated for websites with pornographic content. Events 1291 - Scottish Nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Pornography or porn is the explicit depiction of Sexual subject matter with the sole intention of sexually exciting the viewer

ICANN formally rejected . XXX on March 30, 2007 during its meeting at Lisbon, Portugal. Events 240 BC - 1st recorded Perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.

On July 26, 2006, the United States Government renewed the contract with ICANN for performance of the IANA function for an additional one to five years. Events 657 - Battle of Siffin. 811 - Battle of Pliska; Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA is the entity that oversees global IP address allocation, DNS root zone management, media types The context of ICANN's relationship with the US Government was clarified on September 29, 2006 when ICANN signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with the United States Department of Commerce (DOC). Events 522 BC - Darius I of Persia kills the Magian usurper Gaumâta securing his hold as king of the Persian Empire. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The United States Department of Commerce is the Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting Economic growth

In February 2007, ICANN began the steps to remove accreditation of one of their registrars, RegisterFly, amid charges and lawsuits involving fraud, and criticism of ICANN's handling of the situation. RegisterFly is a New Jersey ( US) based internet hosting and domain name registrar that had their ICANN -accredited status terminated in March ICANN has also been the subject of criticism, due to their handling of RegisterFly, and the harm caused to thousands of clients due to what was called their "laissez faire attitude toward customer allegations of fraud". [8]

Arguments

Governance issues

ICANN was charged with "Operating in a bottom up, consensus driven, democratic manner" by the US Department of Commerce in the Memorandum of Understanding that set up the relationship between ICANN and the US Government. However, the attempts that ICANN made to set up an organizational structure that would allow wide input from the global Internet community did not work well; the At-Large constituency and direct election of board members by the global Internet community were soon abandoned. An organizational structure is a mostly hierarchical concept of subordination of entities that collaborate and contribute to serve one common aim

It is argued that ICANN was never given the right to decide policy (i. A policy is a deliberate plan of action to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome(s e. choose new TLDs or shut out other who refuse to pay their US$50,000 fee), but was to be a technical caretaker. Claims state that ICANN should not be allowed to impose business rules on market participants - all TLDs should be added on a first-come-first-served basis and the market should be the arbiter of who succeeds and who doesn't.

In addition, a member of the European Parliament, William Newton-Dunn, has recently been addressing questions to the European Commission which asks whether ICANN is engaging in restraint of European free trade laws by imposing restrictions on who can operate a TLD and sell domain names. William "Bill" Newton Dunn (born 3 October 1941 in Greywell, Hampshire) is a British politician The restrictions are considered insurmountable by many small business owners and individuals, such as the non-refundable $50,000 application fee.

Alternatives

Alternatives to ICANN have been suggested for managing the DNS namespace and the address space, including:

As of February 2006, no single proposal has enough political push behind it to succeed. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security A Regional Internet Registry ( RIR) is an organization overseeing the allocation and registration of Internet number resources within a particular region of the world

In addition, a number of private, for-profit firms are trying to "seize the opportunity" of namespace development by creating new TLDs in alternative DNS roots. The Internet uses a Domain Name System (DNS root officially administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN Chief among them are Amsterdam-based UnifiedRoot and New.net, which started off as one of Bill Gross' Idealab projects. Newnet is an Alternate DNS root system and publishes NewDotNet an application that makes use of these domains This article concerns the business-startup manager for the bond manager see William H Idealab (formerly known as idealab!) is a Business incubator based in Pasadena California. These initiatives assume (or hope) that the discussions around ICANN will result in a free-for-all, where they will be able to claim that their namespaces are "as good as anyone else's".

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ ICANN-DOC JPA 09-29-2006
  2. ^ NZ Herald: NZer appointed 'Chairman of cyberspace' - 03 Nov 2007
  3. ^ Hannibal Travis, The Battle for Mindshare: the Emerging Consensus that the First Amendment Protects Corporate Criticism and Parody on the Internet, 10 Virginia Journal of Law and Technology 3, 32-34 (2005), http://www.vjolt.net/vol10/issue1/v10i1_a3-Travis.pdf
  4. ^ "ICANN imposes $2 internet tax", The Register, March 31, 2005. In Computer networking, a domain name is a name given to a collection of network devices that belong to a domain which is an administrative space managed according A domain name registrar is a company accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ( ICANN) and/or by a national ccTLD authority to register The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA is the entity that oversees global IP address allocation, DNS root zone management, media types Events 307 - After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.  
  5. ^ "U.N. Summit to Focus on Internet", Washington Post, December 5, 2003. Events 63 BC - Cicero reads the last of his Catiline Orations. Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar.  
  6. ^ ICANN announcement [1], retrieved November 1, 2006
  7. ^ CNET: Domain name price hikes come under fire
  8. ^ The Register, Burke Hansen Of ICANN and the Registerfly meltdown, March 3, 2007

References

External links

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