ICANN
ICANN (an acronym for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is a private, non-profit organisation committed to maintaining the stability and interoperability of the Internet by administering the complex network of domain names. ICANN was officially founded in 1998: before then, its tasks were entrusted to an internal association within the US Department of Defence, IANA.
The association now is not strictly related to a single nation, in fact its management is entrusted to a collective council composed of representatives of governments, companies and associations operating in the network.
Among the activities carried out by ICANN, the main ones are:
- DNS management;
- The control of top-level domains (TLDs).
ICANN, specifically, creates TLDs by collecting international applications; delegating the issuing to accredited companies; - The drafting and constant updating of the WHOIS, a network protocol that, by aggregating several databases, lists all existing domain names, associated IP addresses and information on owners and operators. The expiry date of the domain and associated name servers can also be found within these documents.
ICANN also supervises registrars, the companies to which they entrust the sale and registration of domain names, establishing direct contact with the customer (registrant). Likewise, they supervise the registries, i.e. the companies that maintain the databases dedicated to domains, IP addresses and related information.
Registrars and registries must be approved directly by ICANN before they start operating, while domain name resellers are dependent on registrars.
