ICANN Votes To Allow Cross Ownership Of Registries, Registrars

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the group that manages the Internet's address system, announced changes that would allow the firms or organizations that operate the databases of new top-level domain names to also own the companies that sell Internet address registrations to the public.

The move, adopted by the ICANN board of directors at a special meeting last week, formalizes policies governing the relationships between companies or groups that operate as registries and registrars, which sell domain name registrations to the public. ICANN's board, however, did include some restrictions aimed at addressing potential concerns with the cross-ownership policy, including requiring registries and registrars to abide by a code of conduct that prohibits them from misusing data or engaging in other forms of "abusive conduct arising out of registry-registrar cross-ownership," ICANN said.