[Ecommerce] UK consultation on ICANN

[James Love]

http://www.dti.gov.uk/cii/ecommerce/icann.shtml

UK GOVERNMENT CONSULATION ON ICANN AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE INTERNET DOMAIN
NAME SYSTEM
Introduction II Background II Consultation II Consultation Questions II
Links II Government Contact

Domain Names  & ICANN

1. The domain name system (DNS) is a key piece of the internet's
infrastructure. Without the DNS, internet users would have to remember long
and complicated numbers (called IP numbers) when they sent an e-mail or
visited a web-site. The DNS maps these numbers onto words or characters -
called domain names - making internet addresses easier to remember.

2. Before 1998, the DNS was managed, either directly or through contracts,
by the US Government. However in 1998 the US Department of Commerce
internationalised and privatised the management of the DNS and created
ICANN - the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

ICANN is the US based not for profit organisation that co-ordinates key DNS
functions at the global level.

ICANN Reform
3. In February 2002 ICANN's President announced that ICANN in its present
form was not working and called for full reform of ICANN covering its
mission, funding and relationship with Governments. ICANN will make a
decision on its reform towards the end of June 2002. The UK Government has
followed the progress of ICANN closely since it was created in 1998. We are
a member of the ICANN Government Advisory Committee (GAC) which provides
advice on public policy matters. We, along with other Governments and
stakeholders, are working closely with ICANN on its reform process.

Government Consultation
4  To help us inform our thinking generally on how ICANN should be reformed
and what Governments' participation in ICANN should be, we are issuing this
short consultation document to solicit and focus input. A background paper
to this consultation is enclosed along with a list of questions on which we
would welcome comments. We would also welcome any general comments on ICANN
reform not directly focused on the questions at Annex A.  Comments should be
received by Friday 14 June 2002.



  [snip]



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James Love mailto:james.love@cptech.org
http://www.cptech.org +1.202.387.8030 mobile +1.202.361.3040