On Sept. 30, the US Department of Commerce will allow its contract with the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to lapse.
ICANN's main job is to manage identifiers and addresses on the Internet, such as administering the root zone file (the backbone of the DNS system), assigning IP address blocks, and approving new top level domains (like .ms or .exposed). It does not have any control over the specifics of the content hosted online or exercise any control over governmental restriction within their borders.
If all goes as planned, ICANN is set to transfer over fully to an independent 'multi-stakeholder' governance model, that would include representatives from various world governments, as well as private companies and civil society groups.
The organisation has been criticised for its lack of transparency and accountability to these stakeholders, however, despite spending two years trying to push through community-led reforms.
There has also been some controversy over continuing delays in the granting of new domain names, like .gay (lol), which Saudi Arabia did in fact object to the inclusion of in the list of new TLDs.
US politicians took the opportunity to demonstrate their remarkable ability to turn complex policy issues into soundbyte slapfights. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, along with a bunch of other Republicans, claim that the ICANN transition would empower countries like Russia and China to censor the Internet at the highest level. That's dumb tbh fam.
Cruz tried to include a provision that mandated continued US administration of ICANN into the new Senate spending bill, but it seems to have been dropped from the most recent version, so it looks like it's going ahead.
ICANN's main job is to manage identifiers and addresses on the Internet, such as administering the root zone file (the backbone of the DNS system), assigning IP address blocks, and approving new top level domains (like .ms or .exposed). It does not have any control over the specifics of the content hosted online or exercise any control over governmental restriction within their borders.
If all goes as planned, ICANN is set to transfer over fully to an independent 'multi-stakeholder' governance model, that would include representatives from various world governments, as well as private companies and civil society groups.
The organisation has been criticised for its lack of transparency and accountability to these stakeholders, however, despite spending two years trying to push through community-led reforms.
There has also been some controversy over continuing delays in the granting of new domain names, like .gay (lol), which Saudi Arabia did in fact object to the inclusion of in the list of new TLDs.
US politicians took the opportunity to demonstrate their remarkable ability to turn complex policy issues into soundbyte slapfights. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, along with a bunch of other Republicans, claim that the ICANN transition would empower countries like Russia and China to censor the Internet at the highest level. That's dumb tbh fam.
Cruz tried to include a provision that mandated continued US administration of ICANN into the new Senate spending bill, but it seems to have been dropped from the most recent version, so it looks like it's going ahead.
