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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / SEPTEMBER 29, 2003: VOL. 2 NO. 39
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Breaking News -
General:
Internet Body Wins Three-Year
Extension From United States
The International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers will continue
to
oversee the Internet's domain-name system for another three years, the U.S.
Department of Commerce said Wednesday. ICANN, as the body is commonly known,
will be allowed to oversee the management of the Internet's crucial addressing
system, which matches numerical addresses to easy-to-remember names like
"www.example.com."
ICANN was set up in 1998 to take control of the domain-name system from the
U.S. government, but that has yet to happen as the controversial body has been
unable to formalize its authority over several groups that control key parts
of the online infrastructure.
The Commerce Department has temporarily renewed ICANN's authority several
times, over the objections of critics who say it is poorly managed and does
not properly take the concerns of the Internet's 500 million users into
account.
In a press release, Commerce said ICANN had taken important steps to
reorganize over the past year, and that the new agreement contained several
milestones to ensure that the organization continues to improve.
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