ICANN

ICANN / News Briefs

ICANN Celebrates Its Quarter-Century Milestone

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) commemorates 25 years of fostering international cooperation in managing the Internet's naming system. Originally established by the U.S. Department of Commerce in 1998, ICANN's primary objective has been to ensure a stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifiers, most notably the Domain Name System (DNS). more

U.N.‘s Global Digital Compact Faces Criticism for Overlooking Technical Experts in Internet Governance

ICANN, APNIC and ARIN recently voiced concerns about comments made by the United Nations (UN) Office of the Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology (OSET), Ambassador Amandeep Gill. These remarks seem to conflate the roles of the technical community and civil society in the Internet ecosystem. more

ICANN Sets the Stage for Next Round of New Generic Top-Level Domains, Anticipates Q2 2026 Launch

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Board of Directors has green-lighted the next phase of implementing new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), per a resolution approved on July 27, 2023. more

Verisign Issues Statement on ICANN’s Decision on .Web Auction

Verisign, a global provider of domain name registry services and internet infrastructure, released a statement today regarding the ICANN Board of Directors' decision on the .web auction. more

Government of India, MeitY Organizes 2-Day Event to Promote Universal Acceptance and Multilingual Internet

The Government of India and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) organized a two-day event on Universal Acceptance Day (UAD) on the 27th and 28th of March to promote multilingual Internet and digital inclusion in India. The event highlighted the necessity of providing emails and websites in native languages to enable access to the Internet and bridge the digital divide across the nation. more

ICANN Board Takes Steps to Launch Next Round of New gTLDs

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has adopteda 98 recommendations in the New gTLD subsequent procedures policy development process. This sets in motion the start of the implementation process for the next round of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). more

Freenom Halts Domain Name Registrations After Meta Lawsuit

Freenom, the domain name registrar famous for offering free domain names, has stopped allowing new domain name registrations. This action comes just days after the Dutch registrar was sued by social media giant Meta for allegedly ignoring abuse complaints about phishing websites and monetizing the traffic to those domains. more

Hal Lubsen, Industry Leader and Former CEO of Afilias, Has Passed Away

Hal was an American entrepreneur and a visionary leader who managed and grew successful companies. He had a special impact on the domain name industry, where he founded domain retailer DomainBank and, in 2000, domain registry, Afilias. Hal grew Afilias into an industry leader and was also instrumental in founding Public Interest Registry (PIR), the non-profit that manages the .org domain. more

Coalition for Digital Africa Announces IXP Initiative

This latest initiative announced by the Coalition for Digital Africa will focus on strengthening the Internet infrastructure across the continent by enhancing five existing Internet exchange points (IXPs). The initiative is supported by a grant from ICANN and will be implemented by the Internet Society (ISOC) and will involve identifying five IXPs based on their potential to make a high impact on the respective local and sub-regional markets. more

Removal of Price Caps for .ORG and .INFO Found Improper by IRP

After a prolonged legal process involving multiple hearings and months of consideration, an independent review panel (IRP) determined that ICANN had violated its own bylaws and articles of incorporation through its decision to remove price caps on certain top-level domains (TLDs) and that this decision was therefore invalid. more

Ukrainian Representatives to ICANN Ask for Russia’s Domain to Be Revoked, Local DNS Root Servers Shut Down

A letter sent to ICANN and IANA by a Ukrainian representative to ICANN’s Government Advisory Council (GAC) asks for urgent and strict sanctions against the Russian Federation in “the field of DNS regulation.” The letter urges ICANN to permanently or temporarily revoke Russia’s top-level domains “.ru”, “.рф” and “.su” and to shut down DNS root servers located in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. more

DNSSEC Now Deployed in all Generic Top-Level Domains, Says ICANN

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers organization (ICANN org) announced that all of the current 1,195 generic top-level domains (gTLDs) have deployed Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC). more

The Government of Niue Launches Proceedings With ICANN to Reclaim Its .nu Top-Level Domain

The Government of Niue, a small island 2,400 kilometers northeast of New Zealand, launched proceedings today demanding a "redelegation" of its country code top-level domain, .nu, from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). more

ICANN Introduces Pandemic Internet Access Reimbursement Program

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on Monday announced its Pandemic Internet Access Program Pilot for the upcoming ICANN69 meetings. more

ICANN Board Rejects the Proposed Sale of .ORG to Ethos Capital

In a decision made on Thursday, the ICANN Board said: "withholding consent of the transfer of PIR from the Internet Society (ISOC) to Ethos Capital is reasonable, and the right thing to do," based on various factors that the Board believes will create unacceptable uncertainty for the future of .ORG, the third-largest gTLD registry. more