[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICANN]
ICANN, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is the US non-profit body responsible for the global coordination of IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management and root server system management. Established in California in 1998, ICANN initally focused on the United States but ultimately looked outward with the rapid expansion of internet connections on the worldwide web. Since control over domain names wields substantial economic and commerical powers, ICANN is subject to growing international pressure to hand over control of domain name allocation to the UN. However, to date, US officials have refused to allow oversight to be handed over.
ICANN‘s accountability lies in its consistency with its Bylaws, as well as the values associated with its Bylaws. ICANN‘s transparency and accountability mechanisms are such that ICANN has created procedures for the independent review of ICANN actions, as well as the establishment of Ombudsmen to resolve disputes where possible.
There are thousands of domain name registrars, amongst which:
At present, ICANN is formally organized as a non-profit corporation “for charitable and public purposes” under the California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law. It is managed by a Board of Directors, which is composed by six representatives of the Supporting Organizations, sub-groups that deal with specific sections of the policies under ICANN‘s purview; eight independent representatives of the general public interest, selected through a Nominating Committee in which all the constituencies of ICANN are represented; and the President and CEO, appointed by the rest of the Board.
The Supporting Organizations are currently three: the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) deals with policy making on generic top-level domains (gTLDs); the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) deals with policy making on country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs); the Address Supporting Organization (ASO) deals with policy making on IP addresses.
ICANN holds periodic public meetings rotated between continents for the expressed purpose of encouraging global participation in its processes. Critics argue that the locations of these meetings are often in countries with lower Internet usage and far away from locations that the majority of the Internet-using public can afford to reach, thus making public input or participation from traditional Internet users less likely. Supporters reply that ICANN has a worldwide remit and a key part of its mission is to build Internet use where it is weak.
ICANN was set up in California due to the presence of Jon Postel, who was a founder of ICANN and was set to be its first CTO prior to his unexpected death. ICANN remains in the same building where he worked, which is home to an office of the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California.
Resolutions of the ICANN Board, preliminary reports and minutes of the meetings are published for the public to view on the ICANN website. However there are criticisms from ICANN constituencies like Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC) and At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) that there is not enough public disclosure and that too many discussions take place out of sight of the public.
On May 10, 2006 ICANN failed to approve a plan for a new “.xxx” suffix that would have been designated for websites with pornographic content.
Memorandum of Understanding Between the Department of Commerce and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
Site advocating the return of public representation in ICANN VeriSign Domain Report - Quarterly analysis of global domain name market DailyChanges.com — a free ICANN Registrar Statistics website Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICANN”