Along with the increasing use of the Internet throughout the world, there have been rising demands for a new way of supervising some of its basic functions that include the allocation of domain name suffixes like .com and .org.
For the past decade, this duty as well, as other important technical functions have been carried out by Icann, a private and non-profit organization which is based in Marina Del Rey (California) based on an agreement with the US Commerce Department.
Among such demands is one that came from the European Union media and telecommunications, which called for a severing of Icann’s links with the US government when the current agreement with the Commerce Department expires this autumn. Instead, the European Union media and telecommunications has proposed the creation of a “G-12 for Internet governance” to supervise an independent Icann.
In the long run, the European Union media and telecommunications said, it is not defensible that the government department of only one country has watched an Internet function which is used by hundreds of millions of people in countries all over the world.
Besides, the European Union media and telecommunications, also has called for the creation of an “independent, international tribunal” to review Icann decisions.
At a recent Icann meeting in Sydney, there had been discussion of creating an international subsidiary of the organization, possibly based in Switzerland. But Icann said it will oppose efforts to fragment it, because no one can have it his own way and have it unified. It also said that part of the power of the Internet is that the standards that parties have to agree on are so minimal.
Icann has moved over the years to give itself a more international profile, holding three major meetings a year outside the United States. Gatherings are also planned for Seoul in October and Nairobi next March.
The organization’s Governmental Advisory Committee, which has representatives from more than 80 countries, has been trying to broaden its membership. China, for example, recently agreed to rejoin the committee after a five-year absence.
Now Icann is trying to persuade another big country, Russia, and hopes that a plan to allow Internet domain names to be rendered in Cyrillic, set to begin next year, will be helpful.
The move to embrace Cyrillic addresses, along with other scripts like Arabic and Chinese, is part of a broader drive by Icann to open up the domain naming system, an initiative that also has its critics.
The organization plans to start adding large numbers of new address suffixes, or “global top-level domains,” next year, making it possible to register city or company names like .paris or .nestle.
While Icann says the creation of new addresses will help accommodate the international diversification of the Internet, some companies worry that the process will make it harder to protect their brand names. The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse, a group based in Washington and representing multinational marketers, says the expansion of domain names could lead to a rise in the practice known as cybersquatting.
Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse has called Icann to “halt all current or future policy initiatives” until a commission, appointed by the US President or Congress, and consisting of government, academic and business representatives, reviews its operations. The coalition said Icann has been too beholden to companies that sell and manage actual domain names on behalf of Web sites.
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