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ICANN takeover in October

DNS overlord ICANN is all set to take control of the internet's highest level from the US government on October 1, it was confirmed this week.

California-based non-profit ICANN runs a technical body called IANA, which oversees the world's DNS, IP address allocations, and protocol assignments. ICANN operates IANA for the US government, with oversight from the Department of Commerce. Since early 2014, Uncle Sam has accelerated efforts to remove itself from this equation, leaving ICANN all on its own to run IANA, and thus control the top level of the 'net.

There was a healthy amount of doubt that ICANN would be able to shoulder that kind of responsibility – one sticking point has been a perceived lack of accountability.

The US government basically told ICANN to shape up, and in June this year officials gave ICANN a todo list of self-improvement. On Friday last week, ICANN promised it has or will do everything required of it.

And lo, this week, the US government's Assistant Secretary for Communications Larry Strickling has said that, bar any last-minute problems, come October 1, the keys to cyber-space will be fully in ICANN's hands.

And I, for one, welcome our new internet overlords. And I’d like to remind them that as a trusted web personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground server caves. ®

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