Domain Registration Related News
Why Not Divide the Internet
July 2005
This fight over the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers Latest News about Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN) is all about a golden key, as without it, the Internet
is completely useless. That golden key is a name on the Net called a
URL. It's all about the master design of a sophisticated key
management system so that billions of single domain name identities
can offer access to billions of sites without any problem. After all,
without this access, the Internet has no value.
It's this portion of the magic of the Internet that is now being
challenged.
It's all about ICANN, the organization that from the start has made
some very stringent and often very weird policies about such issues as
the golden keys. Now its global authority is being challenged, and
such fights could divide the power of this controlling body, and any
adverse outcome will simply split the Internet.
Many countries around the world have questioned how domain name
management policies have been handled by ICANN. That has now set the
stage for these upcoming clashes.
The UN is the self-appointed referee. It seems a fair match. In the
ring, on this side is solo ICANN, representing the founding fathers'
point of view, that of the U.S. On the other side is a large group of
nations, almost the rest of the world.
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