Networker: How the US keeps control

The internet is designed to have no single point of failure. That
isn't the same as having no single point of control.

The origins of the internet were in the US government's Defence Advanced
Research Projects Agency. In the 1980s, universities around the world had
assumed a major role in the internet, including funding many of the data
links that made it possible. The early 1990s saw the internet extend beyond
campuses and the military, with internet service providers charging individuals
and companies to connect. By the mid 1990s, the US government had mostly
withdrawn from being direct responsible for the internet responsibility
and various aspects of the internet were placed in private hands.

The most important source of power over the internet as it currently
exists is control over registration of internet “real estate” such as the
names and numbers that allow users to connect around the globe.

If you want to send a request over the internet, you need to know the
address you are looking for. That address comes in two forms: a number
and a name. The number will look something like 152.168.7.25 and the name
something like <http://www.dsp.org.au>.
A service called the Domain Name Service converts names and numbers. Keeping
track of all the names and numbers, and the rules by which they are used,
is central to the internet.

After various early forms, a June 1998 white paper from the US Department
of Commerce proposed establishing the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN). This now has 19 directors (five were elected
over the past couple of months by ICANN's 75,000 members). The rest come
from a range of organisations, most directly or indirectly representing
corporate interests in the internet field. Chairman Vint Cerf is an internet
founder, leader of the Internet Society and was most recently employed
by telecommunications giant MCI.

ICANN just met and decided on some new “top level domain names” (TLDS).
Currently, TLDS include country names such as “.au” for Australia and “.za”
for South Africa, and a small number of particular area names such as “.com”
for company, “.org” for organisation and “.net” for internet infrastructure
companies.

One interesting exception is the TLDS for the small Pacific island country
of Tuvalu, which was “.tv”. The rights for this domain name have been sold
to the DotTV Corporation, which has registered some 140,000 names.

Picking which new TLDS should exist is more than just choosing some
new extensions. It is designating which organisation will have control
over the issuing of names using these extensions. New names are “.biz”,
“.info”, “.name”, “.pro” , “.museum”, “.aero” (for aeronautics) and “.coop”
(for cooperative businesses).

First, the proposal has to get the nod from the US government. Under
the arrangement between the US government and ICANN, the Department of
Commerce decides whether to approve the new names. In a related area of
control, ICANN is incorporated in California. Therefore, in future any
battle over internet structures that ends up in the courts will find that
these are predominantly US courts.

BY GREG HARRIS

From GLW issue 430