Internet Domain Names Background and Policy Issues

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information from computers anywhere on the Internet. Domain names were … engineering and management consulting firm, became the sole Internet domain name …

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Content
Congressional Research Service ?The Library of Congress
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Order Code 97-868 STM
Updated April 22, 2003
Internet Domain Names:
Background and Policy Issues
Lennard G. Kruger
Specialist in Science and Technology
Resources, Science, and Industry Division
Summary
To navigate the Internet requires using addresses (and corresponding names) that
identify the location of individual computers. As the Internet grew, the method for
allocating and designating those domain names became controversial. The
Administration issued a White Paper in June 1998 endorsing the creation of a new notfor-
profit corporation of private sector Internet stakeholders to administer policy for the
Internet name and address system. On November 25, 1998, the Department of
Commerce (DOC) formally approved a new corporation, called the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). A Memorandum of Understanding
between ICANN and DOC has been extended through September 2003. During this
transition period, government obligations will be terminated as most DNS
responsibilities are transferred to the private sector. Issues in the 108th Congress include
the appropriate federal role in overseeing the DNS, the creation of new top level
domains (TLDs), how ICANN will be governed…