The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has ended its decade-long arrangement with the U.S. Department of Commerce. The move gained applause from the European Commission, which had called for ICANN to consider a system run by the private sector.
On Wednesday, the day ICANN's contract with the Department of Commerce was to expire, ICANN announced an "Affirmation of Commitments." It's a commitment for all the parties involved to have a continued relationship with the U.S. government and to conduct periodic reviews of the organization, its accountability, and its transparency.
In the past, those reviews were submitted to the U.S. government under the Joint Partner Agreement. Under the new relationship, reviews will be developed by an international committee chosen by the chairman of ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee. The committee represents 100 nations around the world, the CEO of ICANN, and in some cases ICANN's chairman.
"So what it really means is, we're going global," said ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom. "All the reviews and all the work done will be submitted for public comment to the world. And the United States, just like every other country, will be a recipient of that information through the publication of result."
Private and Public Support
Viviane Reding of the European Union Commission for Information Society and Media asked ICANN in May not to renew its deal with the U.S. government.
"Internet users worldwide can now anticipate that ICANN's decision on domain names and addresses will be more independent and more accountable, taking into account everyone's interests," Reding said. "If effectively and transparently implemented, this reform can find broad acceptance among civil society, business and governments alike."
Private businesses and organizations, including VeriSign, Google and NetChoice, are also applauding the decision.
"VeriSign commends the Internet Corporation on Assigned Names and Numbers and the Department of Commerce the 10 years of work by both parties toward the evolution of governance around the domain-name addressing system," said VeriSign CEO Mark McLaughlin. "We are encouraged that the new proposed agreement by ICANN and the U.S. Department of Commerce will allow for more international participation in the policy creation at ICANN and expand ICANN's efforts as technical coordinator of the domain-name addressing system to ensure a robust and secure Internet."
"Google and its users depend every day on a vibrant and expanding Internet," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt. "We endorse this affirmation and applaud the maturing of ICANN's role in the provision of Internet stability."
Global Changes
In addition to moving to the affirmation agreement, ICANN has also decided to support  different scripts and languages in domain names.
"The Internet is becoming more global because today you have to type dot com or a dot extension that has English-like or Latin characters, what we call ASCII," Beckstrom said. "In the near future we will be rolling out Chinese, Russian and different languages."
|
Rackspace: It makes a difference when you focus on support.
House Lawmakers Push Ban on Peer-to-Peer Software
GAO: Los Alamos Computer Security Has Weaknesses
Computer Security Firm Fortinet Plans IPO This Week
Flat Shipments Hurt Dell Despite Increased Earnings
New Pogoplug 'Personal Cloud' Does Social Networking
Apple Tablet Rumored Delayed as Publisher Gears Up
Smartphones: A Bigger Target for Security Threats
FBI Says Hackers Targeting Law Firms, PR Companies