Dot What?: The surprisingly interesting history of the Internet domain system.

[Commentary] On a daily basis, you probably type dozens of URLs into your browser to get the websites where you read the news, check your e-mail, access your bank records, and shop online. But chances are you don’t know much about the complex, decentralized naming and numbering system that makes it all work behind the scenes -- or the worldwide discussion about who should be responsible for overseeing this system when the US government gives up that role at the end of 2015. Few people know much, if anything, about the Internet’s Domain Name System, or DNS, which helps keep the Internet working on a technical level. Yet it’s a critically important piece of the network’s underlying infrastructure -- it’s how you can be confident that when you type a URL like "http://www.slate.com" into your Web browser, you’ll get to the website you intend to visit. And pretty soon it could be under new oversight as the US government gives up its formal role in the DNS. The transfer of DNS oversight from the US government to the global multi-stakeholder community is an important moment in the evolution of the global Internet, and if successful will prove that critical Internet resources can be managed by the global Internet community.

[Danielle Kehl is a policy analyst at New America's Open Technology Institute]