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The
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
-
ICANN
- is a technical coordination body for the
Internet. Formed in October 1998,
ICANN
is
a non-profit, private-sector corporation formed by
a broad coalition of the Internet's business,
technical, academic, and user communities. ICANN
has been recognized by the U.S. and other
governments as the global consensus entity to
coordinate the technical management of the
Internet's domain name system, the allocation of IP
address space, the assignment of protocol
parameters, and the management of the root server
system.
It is ICANN
's
objective to operate as an open, transparent, and
consensus-based body that is broadly representative
of the diverse stakeholder communities of the
global Internet. With a small staff of 14,
ICANN
is funded through the many registries and
registrars that comprise the global domain name and
Internet addressing systems.
ICANN
is a non-profit corporation with a 19-member
volunteer Board of Directors. Its Board has worked
to pave the way for a smooth and stable transition
from the present technical management system, which
has been funded by the US government, to a new
privatized and internationalized system. The
Board's chairman is Dr. Vinton Cerf, Vice President
of Internet Architecture and Technology for
WorldCom, widely regarded as one of the fathers of
the Internet. The other Directors have been drawn
from a set of specialized technical and policy
advisory groups, and through open, worldwide online
elections.
Together with its Board of Directors,
ICANN
builds consensus through three supporting
organizations -- the Domain Name, Address, and
Protocol Supporting Organizations -- which
collectively represent a broad cross-section of the
global Internet's business, technical, academic,
non-commercial, and user communities.
In the past, many of the essential technical
coordination functions of the Internet were handled
on an ad hoc basis by U.S. government contractors
and grantees, and a wide network of volunteers.
This informal structure represented the spirit and
culture of the research community in which the
Internet was developed. However, the growing
international and commercial importance of the
Internet has necessitated the creation of a
technical management and policy development body
that is more formalized in structure, more
transparent, more accountable, and more fully
reflective of the diversity of the world's Internet
communities. In a phased, co-operative process,
ICANN
has been assuming responsibility to coordinate the
stable operation of the Internet in four key areas:
the Domain Name System (DNS); the allocation of IP
address space; the management of the root server
system; and the coordination of protocol number
assignment.
As a technical coordinating body,
ICANN's
mandate is not to "run the Internet." Rather, it is
to oversee the management of only those specific
technical managerial and policy development tasks
that require central coordination: the assignment
of the Internet's unique name and number
identifiers.
For
More Information:
Andrew McLaughlin
Chief Policy Officer
ajm@icann.org
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ICANN
Announcement List
If
you would like to receive announcements about ICANN
automatically via email please send a subscribe
request to <webmaster@icann.org>, including
your name and email address. The
<icann-announce@icann.org> list is not a
discussion list; subscribers will only receive
periodic announcements relating to
ICANN
and
its supporting organizations.
ICANN
welcomes your public comments at
<comments@icann.org> or through the Public
Comment Forum, and looks forward to forging the
future of the Internet together.
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