Internet Governance

Internet Governance:

News

Internet Society Chosen as New .org Registry Operator 10/15/2002
On October 14, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Board of Directors voted 11-1 to appoint the Internet Society (ISOC) as the new operator for the .org domain name registry-- currently the fifth most popular domain space, encompassing over 2 million registered domain names Read More

Commerce Department and ICANN Extend and Amend MOU 09/30/2002
On September 20, the Commerce Department announced its intention to extend its memorandum of understanding for management of the Internet domain name system with the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for another year until September 2003. ICANN's arrangement with the Commerce Department dates back to November 1998, but has long been fraught with dissatisfaction and contention around issues of accountability, scope of governance, and representation of public and public interest perspectives within in ICANN. Read More

No ICANN Fix It 06/24/2002
The nonprofit organization responsible for the management of the Internet's domain name space has recently drawn renewed criticism from Congress, international governments, nonprofits, and the broader online public, most recently for a series of reorganization proposals developed to address earlier concerns about transparency, accountability, and fairness around its deliberations and overall operations. Read More

Race to Transfer .org Intensifies 06/24/2002
On June 18, 2002, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) closed the bidding to both nonprofit and collaborative applicants that represent the future management of the .org Internet namespace. Read More

ICANN: Barriers to Participation; Nonprofit Domain Constituency Expanded 03/18/2002
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a private-sector nonprofit constituting one of the major international Internet technical standards organizations, recently adopted a set of measures that increasingly prevents more public accountability to and participation from the Internet community -- including individuals and nonprofit organizations. It also issued its decision regarding nonprofit Internet domain space. Read More

.us Domain Space 11/26/2001
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Domain Name Dispute Resolution 10/01/2001
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A .us for All? 06/25/2001
On June 13, 2001 the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) issued a notice of inquiry (NOI) regarding the management and administration of the .us namespace. This is one of the nearly 250 ccTLDs (country code top-level domains), which, since 1994, have been recognized as public resources for the countries to which they are assigned. The domain is currently overseen by Network Solutions -- subsidiary of Internet registrar VeriSign and the exclusive operator for the .com, .net, and .org domain name registries until 2007-- under contract with the U.S. Department of Commerce. Read More

VeriSign: Saving the "org" in dot.org 03/05/2001
VeriSign is the dominant domain name registrar on the Web. Among other things, it has had an exclusive lock on registering domain names that end in .org and .net. On March 1, 2001, VeriSign gave notice that it was giving up its exclusive arrangement in order to focus its registry services on commercial and individual customers. Read More