MARINA DEL REY, CA — Internet observers will not see ICANN, the non-profit agency responsible for allocating IP addresses, administering the highest level of the Domain Name System, protocol addressing, and root servers attain independence from the United States Department of Commerce until 2011, at the earliest. Instead, the status quo became officially re-affirmed when the contract for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was renewed for the next five years, a move some in the European Union consider to be worrisome.Recent wrangling over issues including the .xxx domain has caused some outside of the United States to wonder exactly whom, exactly, controls ICANN. European Commissioner Vivian Reding had called for a change.
Although Tuesday’s contract renewal covers technical functions performed by ICANN, issues related to broader topics are still being debated between the California-based ICANN and the Commerce Department, with a deadline of September 30 in place for the memorandum of understanding.
The U.S. government has long insisted that it plans to discontinue its association with ICANN and privatize the organization, but that date does not appear to be fewer than five years from now.
Although supporters of an extended long-term relationship between the two bodies insist that ICANN, with its 50 employees and $25 million budget, can not be expected to be the sole entity ensuring the internet’s stability and security. Instead, they contend that governmental oversight is essential.
Critics, on the other hand, point to what they believe was the politicization of the .xxx domain as an example of the two already being far too cozy with one another, given the international scope of the internet.
Delegates at last year’s United Nations summit in Tunisia agreed, after much spirited debate, that ICANN could legitimately participate in internet management functions, which effectively left the U.S. government in place as an influential overseer. However, the delegates also strongly condemned any efforts to politicize the assignment of internet addresses and name decisions.
A UN forum on internet governance is scheduled to continue to discussion in Greece at the end of October.
