The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

1777 Words4 Pages

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers [ICANN] is a nonprofit corporation formed in 1998 to take over the operations of the Internet from the United States government. The main duty of ICANN is to manage and control the domain name system [DNS] which is the main basis for the Internet. ICANN is also responsible for the technical operations of the Internet, the creation of innovative ideas for the Internet and also provides stability for the operations of the Internet. The governance and control of the Internet by ICANN has been a controversial issue mainly because of the United States' influence on ICANN and the way it influences the decisions made by ICANN. An example of this is the decision made by ICANN on the .xxx domain name. This decision is believed to be highly influenced by the United States government. The question now is, “Should ICANN continue to govern and control the Internet?”. In this essay, I am going to go through what the popular press articles which include newspaper articles and magazine articles say about this question. Also, I am going to talk about the point of view of scholarly articles which include university press journals and books about this question.

Byron Holland, the President and CEO of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority who wrote a popular press article in the Globe and Mail newspaper, believes the Internet should be left the way it is at the moment. ICANN is doing a good job compared to what any other country or organization would be able to do if they were to take over the affairs of the Internet (Holland, par. 8). He believes that the Internet is better off free and accessible to allow innovations and creativity to take place (Holland, par. 11). T...

... middle of paper ...

...sight - The Globe and Mail." Home - The Globe and Mail. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. .

"EU Admits ICANN Is Doing Fine, But Wants Change Anyway." Os News is Exploring the Future of Computing. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2012. .

" FCC Commissioner: Ending ICANN Could Lead to "an Engineering Morass"." ReadWriteWeb - Web Apps, Web Technology Trends, Social Networking and Social Media. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2012. .

"What ICANN is doing wrong - Stephane Van Gelder." Stephane Van Gelder . N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2012.

More about The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

Open Document