Saturday, March 29, 2014

But ICANN Can’t 

 

Don’t lose sleep over international ‘control’ of the Internet

 

"We often talk about the Internet as if it were a single system. That sort of talk suggests that it must have an ultimate control center. Then it’s easy to imagine ICANN is that center, with thousands of beady-eyed nerds monitoring computer screens showing traffic patterns throughout the World Wide Web. Aaron Sorkin might convey the drama of the setting, where ethnic upstarts design the control programs, but the better-dressed, preppie controllers still get the girls.

 

But that’s a screenwriter’s fantasy. The actual ICANN is more like the North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA). Never heard of it? It assigns telephone area codes. It is operated by a private company, Neustar Corporation. It is one of those happy services whose obscurity confirms its effectiveness."
[Weekly Standard]

No comments:

Post a Comment