ICANN hopes to encourage competition in the market for domain names registrations. ICANN has absolutely no authority to impose any kind of "taxes". It also seeks public input before, during, and after it makes policy decisions (.). They [ICANN and the Department of Commerce] signed an agreement in 1988 to work together to manage the transition from government control to private sector control of Internet services.
DNS allows users to navigate around the Internet. Every computer has an address, which is a string of numbers known as the IP address or Internet Protocol. DNS allows us to use a string of letters known as "domain name". These letters are a “mnemonic” device that makes it easier to remember and learn. DNS allows us to reach a specific website using that domain name (www.internic.net).
Internet addresses, such as the .org part, are known as Top Level Domains (TLD). There are two types of top level domains, generic and country code, plus a special top level domain .arpa, for Internet infrastructure. Generic domains are for use by the Internet public, while country code domains are to be used by individual countries. The TLD has a registry that organizes online databases which contain information about the domain names in that TLD. For example, for you to find an IP address your computer must first find the Internet address of .org in the .org registry database.
In the DNS there are thirteen special computers, which are coordinated by ICANN, called “root servers”. The thirteen computers have the same important information to “act as backups and spread the workload”. Root servers have the IP addresses of all the TLD registries - the global registries such as .com and .org and the 244 country registries such as .fr (France). The registry that handles the IP address allocation for the North American Region is ARIN. It covers the Americans and Sub-Sahara Africa.
There are also the “Domain Name Resolvers” or plain “resolvers” that store information they get from root servers. These resolvers are within the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and they respond to a user’s request to find an IP address. The request is then sent to the local resolver and it splits the request into its parts so it can find the .org registry. Resolvers are needed to handle all the billions of requests a day. This system is essential so that there is no chance of information being sent to the wrong address.
There are alternate roots and these are unofficial roots. Many businesses and people have these. Some are privately run, but some overlap the global DNS and add pseudo-TLDs, which can create browser plug-ins and other software. These are not under ICANN and not resolvable by a majority of Internet users. These alternate roots can cause problems especially if they get too widely used. ICANN has no influence on these alternative roots as long as they do not cause problems. ICANN does educate people about the problems other roots can have on the global system.
It is important to register a domain name. When you register, you are putting an entry into a directory of all domain names and their corresponding computers on the Internet. (Domain names ending with .biz, .cm, .info, .net, or .org can be registered through different companies known as registrars that compete with other companies.) There are rules for registration of .com, .net and .org. For example, .org is restricted to noncommercial organizations, and .com is reserved for commercial businesses. “All registrars in those top level domains follow the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy known as UDRP. Under the policy, most types of trademark-based domain-name disputes must be resolved by agreement, court action, or arbitration before a registrar will cancel, suspend, or transfer a domain name” (www.internic.net).
Two letter names such as .uk or .us are country code top-level domains and correspond to a country or other geographic location (www.internic.net). Information you enter when you register is put on file records and technical information is put into a central directory known as the "registry." This information is stored so that it is publicly available to solve technical problems and permit enforcement of consumer protection, trademarks and other laws. One can renew registrations in one-year increments with total registrations of ten years. If one has a problem with their domain name, ICANN has a policy for a process to resolve disputes.
There are “three supporting organizations in the ICANN Bylaws as established by in December in 2002”. These organizations help assist, review and develop recommendations for Internet policy. The first is the Address Supporting Organization (ASO). It works on the system of IP addresses that identifies the Internet’s networked computers. Second, is the Country-Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO). When implemented, it will deal with two-letter country code top-level domains such as .au, .cl, and .de. Thirdly, is the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO). “It takes over the responsibilities of the Domain Name Supporting Organization that relate to the generic top-level domains” ().
ICAA has a dispute resolution policy for all accredited registrars. Disputes over entitlement of a domain-name registration are usually resolved by court litigation between the parties. Once the court rules the registrar will implement that ruling. “The ICANN Board approves the implementation documents, after revision in accordance with public comments on the 24 of October, 1999”. The first proceeding to go before the ICANN was by worldwestlingfederation.com on December 9, 1999. (That case was decided on January 14, 2000.)
