US to abandon control of key internet group
THE US GOVERNMENT will give up its control over the internet’s infrastructure as it abandons ownership of the body responsible for web addresses.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) – the body that maintains the master database for such top-level domain names as .com and .net, as well as the corresponding numeric addresses – was previously overseen by the US Commerce Department.
On Friday it was announced that the oversight would be shifted to a group of representatives from the private sector and other interested parties.
The assistant secretary of commerce Lawrence Strickling said he asked ICANN to convene a process for a formal transition, which he said must “maintain the openness of the internet.”
ICANN chief executive Fadi Chehade said the process would be completed before ICANN’s management contract with the Commerce Department expires in September 2015. Proposals for a new ICANN stewardship will be accepted beginning next week at a conference in Singapore.