CASE STUDY: ICANN

About ICANN

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the non-profit corporation that was formed in 1998 to assume responsibility for the IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server system management functions previously performed under U.S. Government contract by IANA and other entities. [Source: ICANN]

Things to read:

• About ICANN
• Background
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Working Paper on ICANN Mission and Core Values

Questions to consider:

• What role does ICANN play in the governance of the Internet?
• To what extent can ICANN extract itself from policy issues, limiting itself instead to administrative technical functions?
• There must be a single body to coordinate root policy-making and the other technical functions of the Internet. If this single body is not ICANN, then who?