On that date, administration of the domain name system will be transferred from the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), “a nonprofit multi-stakeholder entity,” the Next Web reports.
Why Now?
Supporters of the move call it a stabilizing move, as the representatives overseeing the internet domain names—representatives from other countries and from tech companies—will now be more diverse. Since ICANN has contracted with various entities at the U.S. government to oversee the domain name system since 1998, practically nothing will change. Quartz has the analysis on the technical reasons behind the shift in responsibility: The government also assures everyone that the 3.5 billion people online will be unaffected by the change.
