COPYCENSE

The Bush administration plans to renew its exclusive contract with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the U.S.-based nonprofit group that oversees key technical matters governing how computers communicate over the Internet.

The intention to give ICANN a sole-source contract, disclosed on a federal government contracting Web site Thursday, reflects the Commerce Department’s belief that the group, based in Marina del Rey, Calif., is the only entity capable of the unglamorous but necessary responsibility of managing the Internet’s basic plumbing.

The decision may revive international debate about the Commerce Department’s role overseeing ICANN’s work, a source of resentment among countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Brazil. Even the European Union has called for phasing out the department’s oversight in favor of some model that would increase international input.

Arshad Mohammed. U.S. Renews Contract for Oversight Of Internet. WashingtonPost.com. May 20, 2006.

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