By Reece Roman
Try to imagine life without the Internet. Over the last half century, the dramatic growth of the Internet has fundamentally changed the way humans shop, communicate, and entertain themselves. The Internet’s one billion users make nearly six billion searches a year. The growth of the Internet has been dramatic, with usage increasing 200 percent since 2000. According to the Department of Commerce (DoC), e-commerce now accounts for over fifty-six billion dollars in retail sales annually in the United States (U.S.) alone.
As the Internet has grown, challenging technological issues associated with the Internet’s administration have arisen. What began as a simple communication between two Massachusetts and California computers has become a complex network of hardware and data. To manage this infrastructure, some administrative body is required. The Internet’s administrative body has taken a number of forms over the years. Initially, the U.S. government managed the Internet in partnership with various research institutions. However, the rapidly advancing needs of the market outpaced government competency and it became clear U.S. government administration was inadequate. The U.S. government then experimented with several administrative bodies whose task was to implement the domain name system (DNS) and technically manage the growth of the Internet. As the Internet’s popularity boomed, these bodies were overwhelmed by the technical demands and complex legal issues associated with administering the DNS. Criticism mounted, both domestically and internationally. In response to these criticisms the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) emerged as the recognized authority charged with DNS governance. Although ICANN is purportedly an independent non-profit organization, the U.S. government retains ultimate control of the DNS through unique contractual arrangements between ICANN and the DoC.