While you might not have noticed, the world of Internet has undergone a major change since Saturday i.e. 1st October.
Last month, we reported that the US would lose its authority over Internet.
Now finally, the long-delayed and perhaps the most-awaited transfer of the World Wide Web's technical management from the United State's government to a nonprofit multi-stakeholder entity has taken place on the 1st of this month. Instead of the power being held just in the hands of the U.S., this particular global community has international representatives from foreign governments and tech companies.
Though the decision to do the changeover has been the pipeline for quite sometime, it took a long time to get it implemented. In fact, there were some last-minutes hiccups. Some conservative politicians and officials tried to stall the handover at the very last minute.
A lawsuit to cancel the handover was filed by the Republican states of Arizona, Texas, Nevada and Oklahoma against the federal government on last Wednesday. According to them, the handover was completely unconstitutional and required congressional approval. But, a federal judge ended up denying the lawsuit on Friday and the changeover transition took place smoothly thereafter on Saturday.
Since its origin, the United States government has held the reigns of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This meant, they administered the global database of addresses for almost all the servers and websites that were there on the Web. Prior to the handover, ICANN was being administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is a part of the United States' department of Commerce.
People criticising the handover debated that the handover could end up jeopardising free speech online. These claims were dismissed by the Obama administration and technology companies on the basis of lack of merit.
The ICANN will now be administered by a collection of public interest advocates, technical experts, academicians, private industry and government representatives, and users from all around the globe. The ICANN is calling it as a “multi-stakeholder process.”
Last month, we reported that the US would lose its authority over Internet.
Now finally, the long-delayed and perhaps the most-awaited transfer of the World Wide Web's technical management from the United State's government to a nonprofit multi-stakeholder entity has taken place on the 1st of this month. Instead of the power being held just in the hands of the U.S., this particular global community has international representatives from foreign governments and tech companies.
Though the decision to do the changeover has been the pipeline for quite sometime, it took a long time to get it implemented. In fact, there were some last-minutes hiccups. Some conservative politicians and officials tried to stall the handover at the very last minute.
A lawsuit to cancel the handover was filed by the Republican states of Arizona, Texas, Nevada and Oklahoma against the federal government on last Wednesday. According to them, the handover was completely unconstitutional and required congressional approval. But, a federal judge ended up denying the lawsuit on Friday and the changeover transition took place smoothly thereafter on Saturday.
Since its origin, the United States government has held the reigns of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This meant, they administered the global database of addresses for almost all the servers and websites that were there on the Web. Prior to the handover, ICANN was being administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is a part of the United States' department of Commerce.
People criticising the handover debated that the handover could end up jeopardising free speech online. These claims were dismissed by the Obama administration and technology companies on the basis of lack of merit.
The ICANN will now be administered by a collection of public interest advocates, technical experts, academicians, private industry and government representatives, and users from all around the globe. The ICANN is calling it as a “multi-stakeholder process.”
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