Abstract
The chapter provides the reader with the necessary case background to understand the issues at stake within the IANA transition process. First, we describe the distributed but hierarchical architecture of the DNS, what IANA functions are, and why they are core elements of the DNS. Then we move our attention to the governance of the DNS retracing the shift from the so-called technical regime toward a “self-regulation” regime established around ICANN. In so doing, we focus on the ICANN governance structure and the controversies that undermined its legitimacy and then its authority over the DNS. Finally, we take into account the several reforms that ICANN has undertaken to comply with the multistakeholder model requirements, as well as the events, processes, and controversies that led to the IANA transition.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The NIC was later moved under the administrative authority of other two DoD agencies, the Defense Communications Agency (DCA), and the Defense Data Network (DDN).
- 2.
The system that was adopted by the WWW to locate web sites and pages, the Uniform Resource Location (URL), was based on domain names and used them as the prefix for content addresses, for example: www.example.com/website/webpage.html, where “/website/webpage.html” is the location of the content resource hosted on example.com (cfr. Mueller 2002: 107–108).
- 3.
The paper was published in the Federal Register on February 20, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 34).
- 4.
The two authors report how, in 2011, NTIA effectively announced the intention to re-open the IANA Functions Contract procurement since unsatisfied by ICANN’s conflict of interest policy, obtaining its prompt review by the corporation.
- 5.
For a collection of other governmental reactions to the privatization of the DNS, see Mathiason (2009: 105–106).
- 6.
https://archive.icann.org/en/general/lynn-reform-proposal-24feb02.htm. Accessed 12 June 2020.
References
Akplogan, A. A., Curran, J., Wilson, P., Housley, R., Chehadé, F., Chair, J. A., et al. (2013). Montevideo Statement on the Future of Internet Cooperation. https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2013-10-07-en. Accessed 12 June 2020.
Article 19. (2014). ICANN Reform: Recommendations. https://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/37494/ICANN-policy-v-2.pdf. Accessed 22 January 2020.
Berkman Center. (2010). Accountability and Transparency at ICANN. An Independent Review. https://cyber.harvard.edu/pubrelease/icann/ Accessed 22 January 2020.
Bygrave, L. A. (2015). Internet Governance by Contract. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Calandro, E., Gillwald, A., & Zingales, N. (2013). Mapping Multistakeholderism in Internet Governance: Implications for Africa. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2338999. Accessed 14 September 2019.
Castells, M. (2001). The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cerf, V., & Postel, J. (1972). Well Known Socket Numbers, RFC322. https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc322. Accessed 12 June 2020.
Clark, D. D. (1992). A Cloudy Crystal Ball-Visions of the Future. In M. Davies, C. Clark, & D. Lagare (Eds.), Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Internet Engineering Task Force (pp. 540–543). Reston: Corporation for National Research Initiatives.
Clinton, W. J. (1997). The Framework for Global Electronic Commerce. https://clintonwhitehouse4.archives.gov/WH/New/Commerce/read.html. Accessed 12 Jun 2020.
Cogburn, D. L. (2017). Transnational Advocacy Networks in the Information Society. New York: Palgrave.
Crocker, S. (1971). Distribution of NWG/RFCs Through the NIC, RFC95. https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc95. Accessed 12 June 2020.
DeNardis, L. (2014). The Global War for Internet Governance. New Haven: Yale University Press.
DeNardis, L., & Raymond, M. (2013). Thinking Clearly About Multistakeholder Internet Governance. GigaNet: Global Internet Governance Academic Network, Annual Symposium. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2354377.
Deutsch, L. P. (1973). Host Names On-line, RFC606. https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc606. Accessed 12 June 2020.
European Commission. (2003). Towards A Global Partnership in the Information Society: EU perspective in the Context of the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). COM/2003/0271 final https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52003DC0271&from=FR. Accessed 12 June 2020.
Feinler, E. (2011). Host Tables, Top-Level Domain Names, and the Origin of Dot Com. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 33(3), 74–79.
Froomkin, A. M. (2000). Wrong Turn in Cyberspace. Duke Law Journal, 50(17), 17–184.
Froomkin, A. M. (2013). ICANN and the Domain Name System After the ‘Affirmation of Commitments’. In Brown (Ed.), Research Handbook on Governance of the Internet (pp. 27–51). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Goldsmith, J., & Wu, T. (2006). Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gross, R. (2011). Civil Society Involvement in ICANN. Strengthening Future Civil Society Influence in ICANN Policymaking. Report. Association for Progressive Communication. https://www.apc.org/en/pubs/issue/governance/civil-society-involvement-icann-strengthening-futu. Accessed 22 January 2020.
Hafner, K., & Lyon, M. (1996). Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet. New York: Touchstone Books.
Hofmann, J. (2007). Internet Governance: A Regulative Idea in Flux. In R. K. J. Bandamutha (Ed.), Internet Governance: An Introduction (pp. 74–108). Icfai: University Press.
Hofmann, J. (2016). Multi-Stakeholderism in Internet Governance: Putting a Fiction into Practice. Journal of Cyber Policy, 1(1), 29–49.
ICANN. (2002). Bylaws for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. https://www.icann.org/resources/unthemed-pages/bylaws-2002-12-15-en. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Internet Activities Board. (1988). IAB Official Protocol Standards, RFC1083. https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1083. Accessed 12 June 2020.
Jørgensen, R. F. (2013). An Internet Bill of Rights? In I. Brown (Ed.), Research Handbook on Governance of the Internet (pp. 353–372). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Klein, H. (2004). Private Governance for Global Communications. In Braman, S. (Ed.), The Emergent Global Information Policy Regime: Technology, Contracts, and the Internet (pp. 179–202). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kleinwaechter, W. (2004). Beyond ICANN vs ITU? The International Communication Gazette, 66(3–4), 233–251. https://doi.org/10.1177/0016549204043609.
Kleinwaechter, W. (2009, October 20). The History of Internet Governance. Internet Governance. https://web.archive.org/web/20110717120454/; http://www.intgov.net/papers/35. Accessed 12 June 2020.
Kudlick, M. D. (1974). Host Names On-line, RFC608. https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc608. Accessed 12 Jun 2020.
Liska, A., & Stowe, G. (2016). DNS Security: Defending the Domain Name System. Cambridge, MA: Elsevier.
Marzouki, M., & Jørgensen, R. F. (2004). A Human Rights Assessment of the World Summit on the Information Society. Information Technologies & International Development, 1(3–4), 86–88.
Mathiason, J. (2009). Internet Governance: The New Frontier of Global Institutions. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Mueller, M. (2002). Ruling the Root: Internet Governance and the Taming of Cyberspace. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Mueller, M. (2009). ICANN Inc.: Accountability and Participation in the Governance of Critical Internet Resources. The Korean Journal of Policy Studies, 24(2), 91–116.
Mueller, M. (2010). Networks and States: The Global Politics of Internet Governance. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
NTIA. (1998a, February 20). A Proposal to Improve the Technical Management of Internet Names and Addresses. Federal Register, 63 (34), 8825–8833.
NTIA. (1998b). Statement of Policy on the Management of Internet Names and Addresses. https://www.ntia.doc.gov/federal-register-notice/1998/statement-policy-management-internet-names-and-addresses. Accessed 12 June 2020.
NTIA. (1998c). Memorandum of Understanding Between the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. https://www.ntia.doc.gov/page/1998/memorandum-understanding-between-us-department-commerce-and-internet-corporation-assigned-. Accessed 12 June 2020.
NTIA. (2014). Intent to Transition Key Internet Domain Name Functions. https://www.ntia.doc.gov/press-release/2014/ntia-announces-intent-transition-key-internet-domain-name-functions. Accessed 12 June 2020.
Padovani, C., & Santaniello, M. (2018). Digital Constitutionalism: Human Rights and Power Limitation in the Internet Eco-system. The International Communication Gazette, 80(4), 295–301. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048518757114.
Pohle, J., & Morganti, L. (2012). The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN): Origins, Stakes and Tensions. Revue Française D’études Américaines, 4(134), 29–46.
Post, D. G., & Kehl, D. (2015a). Controlling Internet Infrastructure: The ‘IANA Transition’ and Why It Matters for the Future of the Internet, Part 1. https://static.newamerica.org/attachments/2964-controlling-internet-infrastructure/IANA_Paper_No_1_Final.32d31198a3da4e0d859f989306f6d480.pdf. Accessed 12 June 2020.
Post, D. G., & Kehl, D. (2015b). Controlling Internet Infrastructure: The ‘IANA Transition’ and ICANN Accountability, Part 2. https://static.newamerica.org/attachments/9764-controlling-internet-infrastructure-2/IANA_Paper_2_final.8594b4de27dd4ecf9be46d348f848cf1.pdf. Accessed 12 June 2020.
Postel, J. (1977). Assigned Numbers, RFC739. https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc739. Accessed 12 June 2020.
Postel, J., & Reynolds, J. (1984). Domain Requirements, RFC920. https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc920. Accessed 12 June 2020.
Redeker, D., Gill, L., & Gasser, U. (2018). Towards Digital Constitutionalism? Mapping Attempts to Craft an Internet Bill of Rights. The International Communication Gazette, 80(4), 302–319. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048518757121.
Stifel, M. (2017). Maintaining U.S. Leadership on Internet Governance. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/report/maintaining-us-leadership-internet-governance. Accessed 12 June 2020.
Taylor, E. (2015, September 21). The Internet Is Run by an Unaccountable Private Company. This Is a Problem. The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/21/icann-internet-us-government. Accessed 22 January 2020.
Weber, R. H., & Gunnarson, S. R. (2012). A Constitutional Solution for Internet Governance. Columbia Science & Technology Law Review, 14, 1–71.
Ziewitz, M., & Brown, I. (2013). A Prehistory of Internet Governance. In I. Brown (Ed.), Research Handbook on Governance of the Internet (pp. 3–26). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Palladino, N., Santaniello, M. (2021). IANA Functions, ICANN, and the DNS War. In: Legitimacy, Power, and Inequalities in the Multistakeholder Internet Governance. Information Technology and Global Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56131-4_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56131-4_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-56130-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-56131-4
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)