The U.S. government relinquishes control of the Internet—how to make sense of the shift

This month, the U.S. government announced that the Department of Commerce would relinquish its remaining oversight and control over domain functions and IP addresses, handing total control to ICANN. Thanks to this proposed shift, there have been a lot of news headlines proclaiming that the NTIA has announced the transition of IANA functions solely to ICANN.

NTIA talking about IANA and ICANN.

NTIA. IANA. ICANN.

If the alphabet soup wasn’t confusing enough, many articles in mainstream media are weighted with a healthy dose of fearing Russia, China, government intervention, and loss of control.

What’s really going on, how important/risky is the proposed shift, and how can you get your voice heard on the matter? We took some time to break this down into easily digestible info for the normal reader who’s not fluent in domain industry acronyms. 

Need to know acroymns

There are three acronyms you absolutely need to know to understand what’s being proposed and how it will affect you:

• ICANN: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a California-based global nonprofit organization coordinating the Internet’s global domain name system. ICANN is made up of a bunch of different entities forming a multi-stakeholder system (you, as a member of the public or as a business person, are in the multi-stakeholder mix). If you’re interested, here’s  an in-depth explanation about ICANN. 
• IANA: The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a department of ICANN responsible for the global coordination of the Domain Name Server (DNS) Root, Internet Protocol (IP) addressing, and other Internet protocol resources. More about IANA. Basically, this department helps ICANN keep the Internet running smoothly and is a department whose functions fall under NTIA oversight. 
• NTIA: The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is an executive branch U.S. agency, part of the Department of Commerce, serving as a primary adviser to the President (or “The Prez,” as we like to call him) on telecommunications and information issues. It also holds oversight over ICANN. Additional info about NTIA is available on its webpage. 

TL;DR Every website on the Internet has a domain name, which is managed in part through ICANN, and every device on the Internet is assigned an IP address, which tells servers where you’re located, which is also managed in part by IANA, which is a part of ICANN. NTIA tells the President stuff, like how to maintain the right amount of control balance in these industries.

STL;DR It really doesn’t matter. Move on to the next section.

What’s “the shift”?

A little history…

When the Internet was born, the network was set up in America and catered to a largely American-based population. That’s where the Web began, it’s where the first servers were located, and it’s where people hooked up the Internet the most. As a byproduct of that inception, the U.S. government became a sort of by-proxy control for how the Internet is run.

Because the U.S. government knew that to build a global digital community, Internet controls couldn’t be relegated to the U.S., it developed and appointed ICANN as a mediatory control. The U.S. government, in the form of the NTIA, has maintained oversight of ICANN in the meantime, but that oversight was always meant to be temporary, and has never actually been used in more than a clerical role.

The need to relinquish control

Enter 2014. The Internet is incredibly global and ever-expanding, and the responsibility of running the basic functions of the Net has overreached the U.S. government.

The global digital community is eager to see the Internet become independent of U.S. controls and represent the global community it’s a part of. Even though the U.S. government never accessed total control over ICANN, the symbolic relinquishing of control is important globally, so all governments participating in ICANN feel that they are a part of an equal, multi-stakeholder process.

According to an April 8, 2014 NTIA release, following a late-March announcement, NTIA is relinquishing its control in ICANN and allowing ICANN—and by extension IANA—to become an autonomous organization. The NTIA has asked ICANN to present a proposal to make this happen. ICANN is asking for your input.

Why should you care?

IANA controls are incredibly important to maintaining the freedom of ordinary individuals, like you, to purchase space on the Web—via domain names—and use it as you wish. ICANN is currently asking for public input as they draft a proposal of the transition of domain functions and oversight, and during this time everyone in the global Internet community has a chance to voice their interests, including you.

What about Russia? China? Iran?

There’s a vocal minority in the U.S. that believe you should care about ICANN becoming autonomous because if the U.S. releases control of the Internet, other countries might step-in and abuse the power. In actuality, although ICANN doesn’t operate as a perfect system (what large body system does?), the idea of this transfer is to keep control of powers away from just one country, including the U.S., to avoid such manipulation. The “We won’t release control because then Russia will take it from us” argument has been a fear-based straw man argument going back decades.

Still interested and want to read more?

• Read the ICANN proposal for a proposal (ah, only ICANN), and the public comment forum.
• Explore this NPR article on the shift and read the lively discussion in the comments section, representing both sides.