Internet
regulation and Internet governance is in a bit of a grey area when it comes to
who controls these aspects of the World Wide Web. It is truly difficult to say
weather one entity or another has more control over the networks. If I had to
answer the question on who controls the Internet I would have to say that a
large dominance in this realm comes from ICANN. ICANN is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which is
responsible for the coordination of maintenance and methodology of several
databases of unique identifiers related to the namespaces of the Internet and ensuring the network's stable and
secure operation. ICANN holds much power when dealing with domain names; this
is a major role of the Internet. This power has been developed through the
United States government in the 80s. Today much of the power is out of the
hands of the US government but still there seems to be an underlying level of
influence that our United States government brings, through advice and
overseeing much of the work that ICANN does. This has lead to a level of
mistrust from many countries due to the high level of power and pressure that
the board of ICANN has over running and maintaining the Internet.
My discussion questions were geared in the direction of asking if ICANN has too much power, and if this is a necessary power for one organization to have. I agree that ICANN has a dominance in the control over the networks and that this power leads to pressure from outside sources. Obviously this is a problem worth avoiding and bringing to light, ICANN is more beneficial than negative in this aspect, I believe that this organization has enough integrity to keep fighting for the correct usage or the World Wide Web. However, I also believe that more regulation on government interference needs to be established as well as making the board members and CEO elected positions. The debate continues that these positions and ICANN as a whole are not owned by the United States, therefore not able to be voted upon only by US citizens. ICANN is not a perfect solution to governing the Internet however it is a step in the right direction with the best foot forward, as long as we as a country and world can keep these members of ICANN accountable for making the Internet a fair resource to all.
My discussion questions were geared in the direction of asking if ICANN has too much power, and if this is a necessary power for one organization to have. I agree that ICANN has a dominance in the control over the networks and that this power leads to pressure from outside sources. Obviously this is a problem worth avoiding and bringing to light, ICANN is more beneficial than negative in this aspect, I believe that this organization has enough integrity to keep fighting for the correct usage or the World Wide Web. However, I also believe that more regulation on government interference needs to be established as well as making the board members and CEO elected positions. The debate continues that these positions and ICANN as a whole are not owned by the United States, therefore not able to be voted upon only by US citizens. ICANN is not a perfect solution to governing the Internet however it is a step in the right direction with the best foot forward, as long as we as a country and world can keep these members of ICANN accountable for making the Internet a fair resource to all.
Resources-
- ICANN. (2014). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/923082/ICANN
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJY5xJKPhjA
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