• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
PANOS MEDIA TOOLKIT ON ICTs – No.1
Who rules the internet?Understanding ICANN
Why ICANN is important now:internet governance and WSIS
‘Internet governance’ was a subject of heateddebate at the World Summit on the InformationSociety (WSIS) in Geneva in 2003. Some groupsfear that the internet is controlled by commercialinterests instead of being a global resource thatis equally available to all; on the other hand, othersfear that calls for reform of internet governancemask a desire on the part of some governmentsto control content and limit freedom of expressionon the internet. ICANN is one of the most importantactors in the present internet governance system,and was at the heart of much of the debate.The 2003 Summit agreed that governance isimportant but did not agree on a new governancesystem, and so the UN Secretary General establisheda Working Group on Internet Governance. ThisWorking Group is due to make recommendationsto the second stage of WSIS in Tunis in November2005. These will include recommendations onthe future role of ICANN.
Why does the internet need Governance?
The internet is a global resource that anyone canuse, but its growth would not be helped by leavingit as a complete free-for-all. Currently the internethas no single governance system – because itis so new and has been developed largely by theprivate sector. Different aspects are managedby a number of different organisations.There are different ideas of what ‘internetgovernance’ should consist of. (The first taskof the Working Group was to develop a definitionof internet governance.) Among the areas inwhich the internet needs, or might benefit from,management, are:allocating addresses, and organising them intogroups like .com, .org, and country groups suchas .ug, .uktechnical and engineering issues, to ensuresmooth functioning of the system and compatibilityof different elementsmanaging spam, viruses and fraud in order tomaintain users’ confidence and meet expectations.The basic question being debated is whethergovernments should have a larger role in governanceof the internet – in which case internet governancewould need to be brought under an intergovernmentalbody, probably within the UN system. Opponentsof this view believe that the present system, in whichthe private sector and civil society have a greater role,can work well and does not need such radical change.They fear that if governments were given more powerover the internet, they would use this to constrainits dynamic growth and limit users’ freedom.Opinions also differ strongly on whether theinternet governance system should addressthe question of controlling undesirable content –pornography, hate-content, crime – or whetherthis is covered adequately by existing legislationin each country.
ICANN (the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers)is the organisation that oversees the system of internetaddresses. It is a non-profit membership organisation establishedin 1998 and based in the United States.
Media toolkit on Information andCommunication Technologies (ICTs)
This is the first in a series of short briefing documents for journalists on different aspects of ICTs and the ‘informationsociety’. It is offered as a service to non-specialists,and in particular to journalists wishing to cover informationsociety issues around the second stage of the WorldSummit on the Information Society (November 2005).Future briefs will cover other ICT governance institutionsand issues, and emerging technologies. If you would liketo receive future issues (by e-mail or hard copy), pleasecontact
Murali.Shanmugavelan@panos.org.uk
or find themon the Panos website
www.panos.org.uk/communication
 
The functions of ICANN
When you type an address and open a web page, youdon’t have to pause to think about what makes thispossible. The easy-to-use two- or three-part address(eg panos.org.uk) is part of a system overseenby ICANN and developed by ICANN’s precursors.ICANN is responsible for oversight of:the Domain Name SystemInternet Protocol addressesthe Root Server system
Easy addresses – the Domain Name System
The most visible of ICANN’s responsibilities isto oversee the internet address system. Webaddresses contain an abbreviation such as .org,.com, .co or gov. This section in a web address iscalled the generic Top Level Domain name (gTLD).Another section of many addresses is a countrycode Top Level Domain name (ccTLD). All countriesin the world have a two-letter ccTLD, such as .ug(Uganda), .za (South Africa).The original internet address system used InternetProtocol (IP) numbers: every website has a uniqueidentifying number by which the system recognisesit and routes information to it. But by 1984 there wereso many addresses the system was becoming difficultto use, so the Domain Names System was introduced,replacing numbers with words and organising theminto the generic ‘Domains’. Country domains wereintroduced in 1985. Every name has to be registeredin a central system so that it corresponds with anInternet Protocol (IP) number which is what the systemactually uses for sending packets of information.At first domain names were managed by NetworkSolutions, a monopoly company authorised todo this by the US government. Network Solutionsregistered the popular web domains .com, .net and.org. In 1989 the US Department of Commerceagreed a contract with the Department of Post andTelecommunications’ Information Science Institute(ISI) at the University of Southern California,establishing the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority(IANA). Then ICANN was established in 1998, to takeover the functions of both Network Solutions andthe IANA, under contract with the US Department of Commerce. The aim was to privatise, internationaliseand introduce competition into the Domain NamesSystem. Now a number of different private companiesare involved in allocating names and running partsof the root server system, operating under theumbrella of ICANN.ICANN controls, governs and resolves disputesrelating to the Domain Name System (DNS), but newTop Level Domain names have to be approved by theUS Department of Commerce, according to the termsof ICANN’s contract. Seven new generic Top LevelDomain names (gTLD) have been approved recently:.info, .biz, .name, .pro, .aero, .coop, and .museum.generic Top Level Domain name (gTLD)country code Top Level Domain name (ccTLD)
NameCompany operating it Target group
.bizNeuLevel, Inc.Restricted to business.comVeriSign Global Registry ServicesBusiness.infoAfilias LimitedAn unrestricted domain for websites containinginformation about you, your organisation, yourproducts or any other information you’d like tomake available to a global audience..nameGlobal Name RegistryReserved for individuals.netVeriSign Global Registry ServicesIntended for and still commonly used by Internetservice providers, but also used by many typesof organisations and individuals globally.orgPublic Interest RegistryThis name was divested from VeriSign in2002, as part of ICANN’s mission to introducecompetition. Unrestricted, but intendedto serve the non-commercial community..proRegistryProRestricted to certified professionals andrelated entities
Who manages the domain names in your country?
To find out, visit:
www.internic.net/origin.htmlWho manages which domains?
 
Like generic names, country code domain names areregistered and managed (that is, they are owned) bydifferent types of organisation, including some privatecompanies and individuals.Now that the internet is becoming such a dominantform of accessing information, some governmentswish to have control over their country domain.They see the country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD)as something like a national flag, or in the sameway as most countries until recently maintainedtheir own airline – something which carries statusand over which the country/government should havesovereign rights and control.The system of country domains was developedto deal with a technical matter – the need toensure communication between different countries.The Internet Assigned Names Authority (IANA)assigned the right to administer a country codeTop Level Domain name to the first technicallycompetent person from a country to come forward,and when ICANN was established it took over thesame system. Some country-level managers orregistrars are private companies, some are withingovernments, some are even individuals. ICANNdoes not control how the ccTLD managers work,or how much they charge.
Who should own the .info domain?
.info is one of the seven new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) that wererecently approved by ICANN. Many countryname.info addresses are currentlyowned by private parties, as are countryname.com names. Market liberalsargue that all gTLDs should be available to commercial users. Somegovernments, on the other hand, argue that .info addresses should be left tothem, for use for tourism, cultural promotion and general awareness purposes.See the difference for yourself by visiting www.southafrica.info andwww.india.info. The first is owned by the South African government andoffers accessible information about the country. The latter is ownedby a honey products company called In Dia.
Who owns the name southafrica.com?
The South African Sunday Times has launched a petition in supportof the South African government’s attempt to recover the domain namesouthafrica.com from the current registrant, Virtual Countries Inc.,a private company based in Seattle.South Africa’s Director General of Communications Andile Ngcaba said thatVirtual Countries, led by US lawyer Greg Paley, had registered the name anddemanded between $5 and 10 million for it.Virtual Countries has been the subject of some controversy in recent timesas it controls more than 30 Internet domain names named after countries,including the .com domain names for Belgium, Russia, Scotland, Sweden,Turkey and Ukraine. At one time it also held the .com names for Korea,Switzerland and New Zealand. The latter domain was sold to the governmentof New Zealand for a reported $1million after that country’s abortive attemptto challenge the registration under the Uniform Domain Name DisputeResolution Policy. The debate continues.At first, when few governments took much interestin the development of the internet, this system wasaccepted. But now that some nationalist feeling hasdeveloped around domain names, many people feelthat a more formal and transparent system shouldbe introduced which would allow governments tomanage the domain themselves, or if for variousreasons they do not have the capacity to do this, toselect and manage appropriate organisations withinthe country to do it on their behalf. There is a systemunder ICANN rules for moving responsibility for theccTLD from one organisation to another within acountry but the process can be slow and frustrating.What happens if the private ccTLD managercollapses, as happened in Ukraine in 2001?Should the government intervene and take over theccTLD? Governments themselves may not be thebest organisations to manage the country domainname effectively. In Cambodia, for example, theservice became less efficient and more expensivewhen the government took over the task from an NGO.In Brazil, on the other hand, the government controlsthe operation of the ccTLD .br as a multistakeholderconsortium for the common good.
Who owns your country’s domain name?
To find out, visit:
www.iana.org/cctld/cctld-whois.htmShould countries own their own country code names?
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...