ICANN re-enacts domain battles 

March 29, 2002

Lawmakers are calling for hearings, consumer groups are up in arms, and directors are attacking each other in increasingly nasty ways. Sounds like deja vu for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is charged with coordinating the Internet's domain name system, an international network of Internet domain servers and Web addresses. 

Imbroglios have upstaged the organization's role as a Net policy-maker before, although they've done little to change the way the organization works. Now, the group has proposed reforms aimed at cutting the bickering short. But many critics believe the plans may lead to its most significant crisis yet. 

At stake, longtime ICANN watchers say, is nothing short of the future of the organization that Net insiders love to hate. 

"We're getting to the point where something has to happen," said Internet guru and former ICANN President Esther Dyson. 

If you aren't stirred to action by the minutiae of Internet governance, or if you haven't run into snags registering a domain name, then you may not know or care about ICANN. Its troubles have not resulted in much obvious fallout for consumers. Since its inception, competition among companies that provide domain name services has increased, prices have fallen, and a system has been set up to deal with disputes over domain name rights, among other things. 

Just below the surface, however, ICANN has been bedeviled by infighting between the myriad interests affected by its pronouncements, including registrars, corporations, academic institutions and even countries. 

More details at: http://news.com.com/2100-1023-871635.html

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