In case you missed it, late last week came significant news for Internet governance, as the US government launched tender documents for the next Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) contract.
You’d be forgiven if you don’t know what that means! But in reality, this contract is central to how the Internet works and how it is run. The contractor is ultimately responsible, together with others like the regional Internet registries, for managing key resources which underpin the Internet, so that when you type a domain name into your browser it connects to the right IP address and ultimately the right website. The IANA contract is currently held by an organisation called ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), and is due to expire in March.
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