History of ICANN

The history of ICANN is an interesting one. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers or ICANN is an apex authority responsible for the administration of domain names, IP address numbers and protocol parameters. It is also responsible for the coordination of the functions of the Internet's root server system.

The US government took the initiative for the formation of ICANN and the privatization of technical management functions of the Internet. ICANN was founded as a non profit organization under the California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law in September 18, 1998. It came into existence through a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC).

For the formation of ICANN, the US government issued a 'White Paper' to the Internet community on June 5, 1998. In that Paper, the government expressed its intention to form a global, organization called 'NewCo' for the management of the domain name systems and Internet protocols. The Paper also provided provision for decentralized administration of Network Solutions with an organization comprised of registrars.

In response to many comments received, NewCo was changed to Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) at the beginning of October 1998. ICANN assumed its responsibility under a contractual agreement with the US government for two-year transition period, for performing a set of technical functions which was previously performed by IANA and other agencies.

Another notable event in the history of ICANN is its accreditation of registrars and adoption of a policy called Statement of Registrar Accreditation Policy. On June 1999, ICANN gave the Register.com the status of registrar for performing registrations in .com, .net, and .org top-level domains. In the same year, the ICANN held its first annual general meeting in Los Angeles. In the year 2000, the ICANN board of directors gave approval to seven new TLDs such as .pro., .aero, .biz, .museum, .coop, .info and .name.

With a short but fascinating history behind it, today ICANN is the most outstanding and influential Internet governing body. Though it is under private administration, it has the features of a self-governed technical organization and a global inter-governmental organization.