ICANN and Their Control Over the Internet

      The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a company started by the U.S. Department of Commerce, created to manage Internet Protocol numbers and the Domain Name System. The Question of the week was, “who controls the network?” In my case study, I focused on ICANN’s power it has over the Internet and its users. ICANN is responsible for managing the DNS; without it, humans would not have a way to identify anything on the Internet. The DNS turns the web address numbers into unique names that we use to locate websites and users on the Internet.

      After my presentation, I focused the class discussion on whether or not ICANN should be regulated by the government or be independently owned.  We talked about the pros and cons of governmental control on such a powerful corporation, but if run in moderation, can be a beneficial thing.  I agree that ICANN needs to be carefully monitored, but also have consumer input so that it can create the best Internet Corporation possible.

     I believe that ICANN is a well-run company that seeks to protect and promote competition in the Internet world. It seeks to expand and evolve the Internet by protecting and creating new Domain Names everyday. Without ICANN, humans would be lost on the Internet, never having a way to find what we are looking for.

Bibliography: 

Bookman, S. (2016). ICANN takes control of internet naming as federal judge denies injunction request. Fierce Telecom, 3.

Krapf, E. (2005). Who Controls The Internet?. Business Communications Review, 35(12), 10.

Silva, Jeffrey. 2005. "ICANN, you can't." RCR Wireless News 24, no. 28: 10. Vocational and Career Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed April 4, 2017).

Straubhaar, J., LaRose, R., & Davenport, L. (2016). Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology (9th ed.). Boston , MA: Cengage Learning.