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Hey everyone,
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a vital part of how the Internet works which links web addresses with their corresponding IP addresses. Without the DNS system you could only access websites if you knew the IP address for that site and it would quickly become messy trying to keep track of dozens of numeric web addresses.
America has handled the DNS system since the creation of the Internet due to the companies that setup the system residing there but they have now agreed to hand over control to a non-profit organisation called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN will take over responsibility of the DNS system on the 1st of October but there will be no noticeable changes for the average user.
Full story here.
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I read about this earlier today. No one country should be in total control but it remains to be seen if ICANN can keep things in order. It won't mean much difference wise to your average user.
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@jonsie Agreed I think it's a good thing that the responsibility will be with an NGO rather then under control of on nation.
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Without wishing to sound biased (although being American, I know I am), I don't think the US has done a bad job of running the DNS system. As the article says, the decision for the US to run it initially was more by circumstance than design. Only time will tell if ICANN will be up to the task of running it as well as it has been up until now.
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I completely agree @Bambino they have done a fine job and the post was not a criticism of the job the've done but as the Internet is now a vital piece of global infrastructure that the economy depends on it makes sense for this to be in the hands of an NGO.
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I know you didn't intend it as a criticism @Martin-O2, and I didn't take it as such. I just wanted to add my two cents to say that I didn't think that the US hadn't done a bad job of 'minding the store'. I totally agree with the handover to ICANN.
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@Bambino wrote:
I know you didn't intend it as a criticism @Martin-O2, and I didn't take it as such. I just wanted to add my two cents to say that I didn't think that the US hadn't done a bad job of 'minding the store'. I totally agree with the handover to ICANN.
Good stuff 
Like you say we will have to see how ICANN handle the task long term but I'm sure they will do fine.
