Who Is ICANN?

Created in the fall of 1998, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is a private international organization authorized by the U.S. Department of Commerce to move domain registration from a monopolistic to a competitive environment by accrediting private companies to become domain registrars. This task was initiated at the end of 1999. With competition now successfully introduced to the domain registration industry, ICANN works to administer policy for the Internet name and address system in a global environment.

ICANN administers top-level domains (TLDs) including .com, .net, .org, .edu, .gov, .mil, and .int. The organization will also administer the seven recently announced TLDs including .biz, .pro, .aero, .coop, .info, .museum, and .name. Other TLDs, often referred to as country codes or ccTLDs, include .us (United States), .fr (France), and .cn (China). There are 240 ccTLDs worldwide, each administered by its own registry separate from ICANN.

ICANN's board includes nineteen directors and nine elected at-large directors. Each director and at-large director serves a one-year term and is elected by an at-large membership.

For more information about ICANN, please visit www.icann.org.