Lawmakers urge US to Keep Control of Internet

[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Andy Sullivan]
Though no one country controls the Internet as a whole, the U.S. Commerce Department maintains final authority over the domain-name system that matches easy-to-remember names like "example.com" with the Internet Protocol numbers that are assigned to each computer on the Internet. That system is overseen by a California-based nonprofit group called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN. If other countries refuse to recognize ICANN's legitimacy, Internet users in different parts of the globe could wind up at different Web sites when they type www.example.com into their browsers. Minnesota Sen Norm Coleman has introduced a resolution that calls for the Internet's core addressing system to remain under US control as negotiators prepare for a United Nations summit in Tunisia next month where the issue will loom large. Countries like Brazil and Iran have argued in a series of meetings over the past two years that the Internet is now a global resource that should be overseen by the United Nations or some other international body. The European Union withdrew its support of the current system last month.
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