Plans for the US to Relinquish Control of ICANN Submitted by Internet Professionals.
ICANN wishes to regain control of a position within their business that is currently managed by the U.S. It is an administrative review panel made up of notable government officials.
A conglomerate of web professionals publicized a plan showing how the US can concede supervision of ICANN, the non-profit organization that handles and controls all internet monikers and web addresses.
These experts put together this 199 page plan after the US commerce department said that it would hand over all management responsibilities to an international faction of interested individuals. They publicized their decision to make this controversial move some time last year.
Numerous individuals worldwide have been anticipating this announcement and wondering how ICANN would run without government involvement. Republican lawmakers have been particularly concerned because they are not content with the possibility of foreign countries taking control of the entire internet.
ICANN retained the contractual agreement to oversee and run the master database since 1998. The database includes all top-level domains (.com, .net), and their matching numerical addresses. This collective operation goes by the name of IANA, which stands for Internet Assigned Names Authority.
Several individuals and groups are responsible for governing ICANN. Government and private industry reps, along with technical and academic authorities have a vested interest in this organization. Members of public interest groups and individual users from across the globe are part of this stakeholder faction as well.
The proposal contains a recommendation to establish a separate division with an independent performance assessment method. This division would set up a contractual agreement with ICANN to manage the current name and address database for the internet. The stakeholder faction will still have the ability to raise concerns if ICANN is not properly performing its duties.
Lawmakers in the US already passed a decree that requires the Obama Administration to submit this proposal to Congress. The changeover should take place sometime in the middle of 2016. The general public can comment on this issue until September 8 2015.
ICANN President Reacts to US Government Plan to Relinquish Key Internet Stewardship