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U.S.
to keep control of Internet DNS
Washington D.C.: In a policy reversal, the United
States plans to retain its control over the top-level
domain and addressing system (DNS) of the Internet.
Previously, the U.S. said it was willing to give up its
control over the Internet's master indexes and root directory.
Although the Internet's 13 root servers are in private
hands, the U.S. Commerce Department holds veto power over
the more than 250 top-level domains, such as .com and
.net.
Speaking at a wireless conference in Washington Thursday,
Assistant Commerce Secretary Michael Gallagher said his
agency plans to retain that veto authority despite earlier
pledges to divest itself of involvement in Internet governance,
eventually ceding control to the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
Later Thursday, the U.S. government's new principles were
posted on Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) Web site.
"The United States is committed to taking no action
that would have the potential to adversely impact the
effective and efficient operation of the DNS," the
statement reads. "[The United States] will therefore
maintain its historic role in authorizing changes or modifications
to the authoritative root zone file."
The policy statement acknowledges that other governments
have a legitimate public policy interest in the management
of their country's top-level domains.
"As such, the United States is committed to working
with the international community to address these concerns,
bearing in mind the fundamental need to ensure stability
and security of the Internet's DNS," NTIA states.
The NTIA also said it was committed to continue working
with ICANN, the private organization formed in 1998 to
oversee the technical global operations of the Internet.
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