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Powerful body that runs Internet backbone mulls future

Its board of 21 directors is partly appointed by an independent committee, and is split between various stakeholders and industry bodies, with governments and ‘Internet users’ represented by a board member each.

Decisions are made through ‘rough consensus’, according to which suggestions that are put to ICANN are developed into a report by a committee, which is then put out for public review, and discussed and revised until a consensus is reached, or as a last resort the board decides.

Currently under debate: the question of who should have access to the contact details of anyone who registers a website domain name — currently searchable through a system called Whois.

Police, governments and copyright lawyers, not to mention journalists, have a huge interest in the data, and it raises obvious questions about privacy.

But the technical nature of the issues at stake can be an obstacle.

A Japanese promotional video for the .jp domain name manager JPRS made light of the problem, featuring an employee who brings on instant narcolepsy to all who overhear him describe his job.

“Those jargons might put you to sleep but this job is really important,” he tells a sufferer of chronic insomnia, who promptly slips into unconsciousness.

It has more than a grain of truth. In the middle of a press conference to explain the importance of ICANN’s 50th meeting, the chairman of its board slipped into a gentle slumber at the podium.

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