Established in 1998 in Southern California, ICANN is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. A world-wide non-profit organization dedicated to keeping the internet safe and information secure through coordinated maintenance and procedures of several databases related to domain name registries and IP addresses.

The functions of ICANN constant maintenance are:

• Protocol Assignments – this involves maintaining the codes and numbers used in Internet protocols
• Internet Number Resources – is a global coordination between the Internet Protocol addressing system (IP addresses), which in turn will trickle down to the allocation of the regional internet registries
• Root Zone Management – is the assignment of ‘top-level domains’, such as .uk, .org, and .com, and their technical and administrative maintenance

The constant monitoring of the world-wide web is done through a “multistakeholder model”, which is a community based approach to governance and how procedures and policy are developed formed of global partners that create their Board of Directors, Advisory Committees and Technical Liaisons. Currently, ICANN manages over 180 million domain names and four billion networks across over 240 countries. It is important to note, that ICANN does not control what content goes on the internet.

Currently, through a partnership with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), the monitoring and maintenance of domain names comes to ICANN through the IANA, which was granted by the U.S. government. The protocol parameters used to monitor and manage the DNS are determined by the The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), which the ICANN enforces.

Why is ICANN important?

ICANN’s multistakeholder model is important because that means not one person or entity (business or government) has complete control over the internet, but allows for an open global internet and connection. The internet will always be accessible, no matter where you are in the world.

Everything that happens on the internet (emails, images sent, social media, etc.) interacts and is registered with the domain name system (DNS). The information is used by the registered domain names (i.e. colleeneakins.com) is translated in to an IP address (such as 192.0.43.7) needed by servers, routers and networks to speak to each other to route traffic across the internet to the intended destination.

Careful monitoring of the DNS system and registry partners, is crucial to having an efficient and working internet for users to conduct everyday actions for personal or business needs.

How does this affect your business?

While ICANN does not control content of the internet, there is concerns on how controversial content is displayed and when the DNS is controlled by international government, as certain actions in controlling content can be considered violations of freedom of speech/press.

However, in general, without careful management from ICANN on domain names and IP addresses, the internet would be in shambles. Careful maintenance of networks, routers and hackers allow your customers to effectively and efficiently view your website without interruption or being re-routed to a website barring no relevance to your company.

In other words, the digital user experience depends greatly upon the work of the ICANN and the maintenance and monitoring it provides.

For secure website development, contact Colleen Eakins Design for a consultation on how your company can enhance its online presence.