Icann looks after many of the net's basic functions
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The US government says it will maintain oversight of the internet but with far less hands-on involvement.
Icann, the body which oversees the future of the net on
behalf of the US, has been given more independence in a new agreement
for the next three years.
Dr Paul Twomey, ceo of Icann, said the deal was "a major step forward for Icann autonomy".
The US government has pledged to cede control of the net to private sector hands at an unspecified future point.
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The real feeling is that Icann is progressing, but it is not fully ready yet
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Icann, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is a not-for-profit company formed in 1998.
It is the guardian of the underlying architecture of the
net, overseeing allocation of domain names such as .com or .net, and
the addressing system that links domain names to the numbers computers
understand.
It has always been intended that the net coordinator
should eventually be a private organisation, but since it has been in
existence Icann has been overseen by the US government.
In the past, the government has been criticised for
having a stranglehold over Icann. In May 2006, the organisation hit
controversy when plans for a .xxx domain for sexually explicit sites
were rejected, a move that some saw as politically motivated.
Others believe that the oversight of the net should not
be tied to one government, and several statements submitted to a
hearing in July 2006 to discuss the future of Icann stated: "No single
government should have a pre-eminent role in internet governance."
'Big difference'
"The big difference is that we will no longer have our
work prescribed by the Department of Commerce and no longer have to
report to them every six months with lots of hurdles for us to jump,"
said Dr Twomey.
He said critics of Icann and its relationship to the US
should see this as a major step on the path to an international
"multi-stake holder organisation".
"The US has clearly stated that it wants full autonomy and that it is committed to that. It is talking the talk.
"The US government has stated its policy of wanting the
management of DNS to be in the hands of the private sector and that
Icann is the organisation charged with managing it."
Emily Taylor, director of legal and policy at Nominet,
the UK internet name registry for domain names ending in .uk, said she
was uncertain that Icann was really ready to stand alone.
"The real feeling is that Icann is progressing, but it is not fully ready yet.
"If the department of commerce withdrew its function at the moment, nobody has really articulated what Icann would look like.
"What we would like to see in any renewed memorandum is
for it to be looking towards transition to the private sector. What
would the Icann look like that can be cut loose, what would the
principles be, what would people trust?"
Dr Twomey said issues around timing and transparency had to be resolved before Icann could be autonomous.
"I think we are a transparent organisation but as
someone said to me: 'Icann is transparent like a credit card agreement:
it's all there but not understood by everyone'."
Dr Twomey added: "Security and stability of the internet
is one of our core responsibilities and must be paramount when the
decision to cede control is made."
The new agreement takes the relationship between the US
government and Icann into the first year of a new administration (in
2009) and there is an 18 month review point in the new deal at which
time discussions over autonomy could begin again.
Icann has also been criticised for a lack of
accountability; members are not allowed to join the organisation but
must instead apply to sub-groups.
A recent report by the London School of Economics,
commissioned by Icann, recommended that the organisation allow direct
membership.
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