ICANN

Tagline

One World. One Internet.

Net Worth

$1,500,000,000

Started in (City)

California

Started in (Country)

United States

Incorporation Date

18th December, 1998

Bankruptcy Date

Founders

Jon Postel

About

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a non‐profit, private‐sector American corporation formed in 1998 to take responsibility for key Internet management functions. ICAAN is responsible for providing secure internet, it develops internet policies that safeguard the internet security by giving them a unique ID, it regulates a system that makes use of information by exchanging in the most stable way. ICANN helped design and implement a low-cost system for resolving disputes over domain name ownership. ICANN approves the introduction of new "generic top-level domains" to the Internet - a process that expands the online space available.

Beginning

The U.S. government, in the form of the Department of Commerce, began a process to create a "new IANA," one supported by the Internet as a whole. This was seen as consistent with the idea of privatizing the Internet. But note that this process skated over the U.S. government’s authority to choose a new shepherd, to begin with. Why was a new leader something for the U.S. government to designate? It wasn’t as if there were local airwaves over which the government claimed power. The only real hook was that American funding had subsidized the creation of Internet protocols—but these were grants, not fee-for-service; subsidies, not permission. And the small fees the government awarded to companies that maintained the domain name databases—after Jon found it boring to maintain on his own—were ones that the companies would be delighted to simply waive, charging Internet users directly instead. In reality, the U.S. government got to choose for two reasons, neither of which had to do with any legal authority. First, the government made sure that there wasn’t a choice for anyone to make: the ultimate ballot it was to cast had only one entry on it. When three entities stepped forward to be the new IANA, the Department of Commerce persuaded them to negotiate with one another until only one proposal was left. Choosing something from a list of one is not controversial. Second, nearly everyone concerned about the future of the Internet wanted certainty and stability. So the U.S. government’s "decision" to recognize ICANN as the new IANA in 1998 was welcomed as a rallying cry to get a move on with the allocation of numbers and names. ICANN, a California non-profit, had a Byzantine set of by-laws to make Madison proud: Board members were appointed from various constituencies ("stakeholders" in governance parlance) and various regions of the world. But it is not run by the governments of the world. Many had seen the way the UN operated and had little interest in replicating it. And in 1998, the U.S. government\’s recognition of ICANN took the form of a cooperative agreement between ICANN and the Commerce Department spelling out certain minimal responsibilities–and a nominal way for the U.S. government to pull the plug if something went wrong.

Road to Success

ICANN was formed in 1998 as a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation and a community with participants from all over the world. ICANN and its community help keep the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It also promotes competition and develops policy for the top-level of the Internet's naming system and facilitates the use of other unique Internet identifiers. Held three times a year, ICANN's public meetings convene members of the global, multistakeholder Internet community, made up of individual users, businesses, civil society, governments, research institutions and non-government organizations, to discuss issues impacting the Domain Name System (DNS) and develop relevant policies.

Challenges

This structure now faces a challenge from the growing internationalization of the Internet, which necessitates governance on a more international basis. At the World Summit on the Information Society in December 2003, it was agreed that a United Nations working party should be set up to review Internet governance.

Failures

In 2000, professor Michael Froomkin of the University of Miami School of Law argued that ICANN's relationship with the U.S. Department of Commerce is illegal, in violation of either the Constitution or federal statutes. The Federal Trade Commission stated ICANN had long failed to provide safeguards that protect consumers from online swindlers. ICANN has accepted the controversial domain name ".sucks" (referring to the primarily US slang for being inferior or objectionable). Canadian brands had complained that they were being charged "exorbitant" prices to register their trademarks as premium names.

CEOs

Goran Marby
Fadi Chehad
Mike Roberts