14 DAY TRIAL // On Saturday, October 1, the US government has finally handed over control over the Internet's DNS system to a private entity, something that many countries around the globe have tried to convince the US government to do for years.
The transition didn't go as smoothly as many wanted, with a last ditch effort from several US senators to block the move on Friday.
These senators, representing four US states (Arizona, Oklahoma, Nevada and Texas) argued that the Internet was a creation of the US government, which it is and nobody contested that. As such, they requested a Texas judge to block the transfer of the DNS system to ICANN, a private organization, until the US Congress voted on the matter.
Judge shoots down last legal effort to keep DNS system in US hands
The judge didn't agree with the four senators and allowed the transfer to take place. This means that now, IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), the organization which manages the Internet's DNS system, is under the control of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), a nonprofit organization with international members, based in Los Angeles.
Prior to Saturday, IANA was also under ICANN supervision, but the US National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA), an agency part of the US Department of Commerce, had a veto right over any decision ICANN made.
IANA transition started back in 1998, after Jon Postel passed away. Postel was one of the key figures that administered large chunks of the Internet in its early days and founded IANA to help him manage the DNS system.
During the 2000s, several countries led by Russia and China tried to force the US government to give up control of the DNS system. It didn't help their cause that many of them had oppressive regimes, which made the US drag its feet for almost 20 years. Nevertheless, with pressure growing on the US government from both states and the private tech sector, IANA stewardship was finally handed over to ICANN.