The Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is responsible for overseeing the
Internet's Top Level Domains (TLDs). ICANN is a not for profit organization,
and its main responsibilities surround IP address space allocation, domain
name registration management, root server system management functions
and other related administrative functions that were performed by the
U.S. government and other organizations via contract prior to the establishment
of ICANN. Formed in 1998 after a call from the US government to establish
a not for profit organization to oversee the Internet's functionality
(the Internet began as a research used by the US government), the company
operates on a budget of approximately six to eight million dollars (USD)
per year.
Every company that
provides genuine TLD registration services (that is, the official registry-level
registration of .com, .net and .org domains) is required to be reviewed
and approved by ICANN. Each company that applies to become an ICANN-approved
registrar is subjected to a fairly rigorous application process; companies
and sites that do not explicitly state they have are an ICANN-approved
registrar are simply reselling the services of a company that has received
approval.
ICANN also has an
important role in the Internet community, as virtually anything it legislates
or regulates effect most Web sites in one way or another. Some of the
organization's other objectives include preserving the Internet's operational
stability; promoting competition (ICANN introduced a multi-registrar system
in 1999), and achieving broad global representation and to developing
policy through private-sector, consensus-based means. According to the
ICANN Web site, the organization “is perhaps the foremost example
of collaboration by the various constituents of the Internet community
- individuals and organizations, entrepreneurs and educators, corporate
enterprises and non-profit advocacy groups.”
ICANN is also key
to the resolution of domain name registration disputes, as it is the organization
responsible for designing and implementing the Uniform Domain Name Dispute
Resolution Policy (popularly known as the “UDRP”). This policy
governs the procedures followed by all domain name registration in the
event of a dispute between two parties over a registered domain name.
And contrary to popular belief, ICANN is not the same organization as
Network Solutions (NSI), which was the sole company responsible for top
level domain name registrations between 1993 and 1999 per a U.S. Government
contract. NSI is now one of about 160 ICANN-approved domain name registration
The company is organized
in to several parts and is overseen by a larger board. However, ICANN's
current structure is under review as it tries to re-invent itself as a
more flexible organization; the firm has been a target of criticism from
some within the Internet community that claim ICANN does not properly
perform the job it was created to do.
