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What is ICANN? What is ICANN? A lot of people searching for cheap domain names will see an ICANN fee and wonder what is ICANN? In this cheap domain article we are going to answer the popular question of what is ICANN. What is ICANN!

What does ICANN stand for? ICANN stands for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. As a result of that long name you can see why people only refer to it as ICANN.

What is this history of ICANN and who operates ICANN? To start with ICANN was formed in 1998 as a not for profit public corporation. The entire goal of ICANN at that time was to keep the internet secure, safe, and operable. The mission of ICANN is now to coordinate, at the overall level, the global Internet's systems of unique identifiers, and in particular to ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifier systems. Specifically ICANN has listed the following three key goals and tasks.

1. Coordinates the allocation and assignment of the three sets of unique identifiers for the Internet, which are

a. Domain names, aka DNS.

b. Internet protocol addresses and autonomous system numbers

c. Protocol port and parameter numbers.

2. Coordinates the operation and evolution of the domain name root name server system.

3. Coordinates policy development reasonably and appropriately related to these technical functions.

In order to accomplish these goals ICANN operates through a board of stakeholders. These stakeholders meet on a regular basis to discuss policy development to better serve the needs of the Internet. They also coordinate resources from a variety of bodies within ICANN that include the Address Supporting Organization (ASO), the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), and the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (CCNSO). There are also several smaller committees that provide input on what ICANN should do. Those committees include the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), the Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC), the Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC), the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), and the Technical Liaison Group (TLG). Each of these committees and bodies have specific goals and tasks that are responsible for which ultimately helps in the effective overall management of the global assignment of domain names and IP addresses.

What does ICANN do? A lot of people think that ICANN is responsible for stopping spam and controlling content on the internet. This is not true. They don’t have any control over that. What ICANN does is create unique identifiers for each website. This is done by the DNS. The easiest way to think of the DNS is instead of having to enter the IP address for a particular site you enter the domain name. It makes it a lot easier for people to access your site. ICANN assures that there won’t be two domain names that are the exact same. The same goes for IP addresses. While ICANN doesn’t have complete control for IP addresses they have measures in place that prevent the issuance of like IP addresses.

ICANN is also huge in who is allowed to sell domain names. In order to sell a domain name you have to be ICANN accredited. There are a lot of sites out there that claim to be domain name sellers but really they are reselling domain names or part of an affiliate domain name program. If you buy a domain name from a place that is not ICANN accredited you take the risk of not having your domain name registration take effect.

What are ICANN fees? Typically when you purchase a domain name there is going to be a small ICANN fee attached to the price. That fee is 20 cents and goes toward the funding of ICANN. Without these fees ICANN can’t survive.

In the end, it is important to realize how important ICANN is to the World Wide Web. They have help a lot in the development of the Web and are a huge reason why the Web is the way it is today.

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