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While the transition will not change how the Internet works, it would help reassure users, businesses and governments about its integrity, according to Fadi Chehade, chief executive of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
Chehade told AFP the transition plan being prepared since early 2014 will be delivered to the US government in February, and that it could take place on September 30—a year later than originally planned.
If the US government approves the plan, "then the contract between ICANN and the US government which is set to naturally expire on September 30 will just expire," Chehade said in an interview Wednesday in Washington.
Chehade said the private non-profit ICANN is effectively a "traffic cop" that ensures the Internet address system functions, and that the US government's role has been merely to ensure that it follows correct procedures.
Chehade told AFP the transition plan being prepared since early 2014 will be delivered to the US government in February, and that it could take place on September 30—a year later than originally planned.
If the US government approves the plan, "then the contract between ICANN and the US government which is set to naturally expire on September 30 will just expire," Chehade said in an interview Wednesday in Washington.
Chehade said the private non-profit ICANN is effectively a "traffic cop" that ensures the Internet address system functions, and that the US government's role has been merely to ensure that it follows correct procedures.
Read more at http://phys.org/news/2016-01-internet-cord-year.html.
Personal Note: If the U.S. does not remain the governmental authority behind ICANN, will the U.N. somehow get control?
In the past, the U.S. has seized websites at times. Will they still have this authority if there is a break between the U.S. and ICANN?
If the U.N. takes over, will this open the way for any national government be able to seize sites like the U.S. government has done in the past?