Why Not Divide the Internet

July 2005

This fight over the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers Latest News about Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is all about a golden key, as without it, the Internet is completely useless. That golden key is a name on the Net called a URL. It's all about the master design of a sophisticated key management system so that billions of single domain name identities can offer access to billions of sites without any problem. After all, without this access, the Internet has no value.

It's this portion of the magic of the Internet that is now being challenged.

It's all about ICANN, the organization that from the start has made some very stringent and often very weird policies about such issues as the golden keys. Now its global authority is being challenged, and such fights could divide the power of this controlling body, and any adverse outcome will simply split the Internet.

Many countries around the world have questioned how domain name management policies have been handled by ICANN. That has now set the stage for these upcoming clashes.

The UN is the self-appointed referee. It seems a fair match. In the ring, on this side is solo ICANN, representing the founding fathers' point of view, that of the U.S. On the other side is a large group of nations, almost the rest of the world.