The Domain Name System (DNS) is easily one of the most important components of the World Wide Web. The hierarchical centralized naming systems for any resource connected to the Internet or a private network associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participating entities, making average users easier to access to a vast amount of websites.
Since it’s introduction into public use, the US government has always had ultimate say over how the DNS is controlled and managed. But in over a month, the situation will change. The US government confirmed that it will transition its power fully to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a not-for-profit global organization. If everything goes as planned, the power transition will be in effect on October 1, 2016.
The terms of the change were agreed upon in 2014, but the US government was not convinced that ICANN was “ready” to make the change until recently.
The transition will not affect average Internet users. ICANN, founded in 1998, is an American private nonprofit organization that is responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces of the internet – thereby ensuring the network’s stability and secure operation. The US government says it’s done a study that shows the chances of ICANN being steered by a government pursuing its own agenda to be “extremely remote.“
