I think ICANN: climbing the Internet regulation mountain

Volume 8, Number 3 • March 2000

I think ICANN: climbing the Internet regulation mountain
by Wallace Koehler

Discusses the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which serves as the accrediting body for Internet registrars that accept domain name registrations at the .com, .net, and .org top-level domains. Explains that ICANN is an international non-governmental organization that meets periodically somewhere in the world in an attempt to define its role in establishing and regulating Internet policy. Says that as a "licensing" agency, ICANN has to allocate a relatively scarce resource among a limited number of competing interests. Notes that issues concerning its lack of clout to mandate regulations and its inability to represent the Internet world from a national perspective have become important when trying to mitigate between conflicting political, economic, and social issues, and ICANN has already experienced criticism and resistance. Contains two tables, a sidebar, and a list of references.