By Kerry Brown
Published: May 18, 2012
Most people have probably not heard of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) or if they have, don’t understand what it is or what it does.
To reach another person on the Internet you have to type an address into your computer — a name or a number. That address must be unique so computers know where to find each other.
ICANN coordinates these unique identifiers across the world.
That sounds easy but it is actually more complicated than it seems at first glance. What ICANN does has profound implications on the how the Internet works and thus directly influences much of the world’s economy.
ICANN meets three times a year in locations all over the world. Anyone can attend. There is no charge for the meetings themselves although attendees are responsible for their own travel expenses.
Most meetings have about 1,700 attendees from governments, private business, not for profits, technical experts, and the general public.
The meetings last several days and at any given time up to a dozen sessions are taking place on various topics that range from the very technical to the very political.
Over the past two years I’ve been lucky enough to attend three meetings through my involvement as a board member for the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA). In March I was in Costa Rica for ICANN 43.
One of my roles on CIRA’s board is to chair the Technical Oversight Committee. I attended technical sessions about the implementation of DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC). This is a new add on for the Domain Name System (DNS) which is how names are matched to numbers.
When you type in www.google.com your computer has to match that name to a number in order to get to the site. The DNS accomplishes this. When the Internet first started everyone trusted everyone else on the Internet so the DNS wasn’t designed with security in mind. That has changed.
There are many unscrupulous operators on the Internet now. Because of that change security protocols have been added. These protocols are complex to implement.
CIRA is in the process of implementing DNSSEC for the .CA namespace so I, along with CIRA staff members were at the meeting to study how this has been done elsewhere.
A hotly debated issue at this meeting was the need for law enforcement to enforce laws versus the individual’s right to privacy. Canada’s recently withdrawn Bill-C-30 and SOPA in the USA were about this.
I attended sessions and panels with law enforcement agencies, governments, privacy advocates, and technical experts from all over the world debating the issue. It was fascinating but I didn’t hear any answers.
This issue may be the most important Internet issue in many years. CIRA’s CEO spoke about it in his blog at blog.cira.ca.
ICANN has evolved with a new and exciting governance model. Most Internet policies and technical standards come from a bottom up process where anyone can propose, comment on, and influence their development.
Previous similar industries like telecom or broadcast networks have a more top down, government controlled, highly regulated model. This bottom
Sisolia Donna says
thank you for the information