In the first post of this series, we talked about Internet Governance broadly. Today, we are zooming in on the “plumbers” of the internet—the organization that ensures when you type google.com, you actually go to Google and not a random server in Antarctica.

Meet ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).

If the internet were a city, ICANN wouldn’t be the Mayor. It would be the Department of Town Planning and Address Management. They don’t control what happens inside your house (the content), but they make sure your house has a unique address so the postman can find it.

What Does ICANN Actually Do?

ICANN coordinates the Internet’s unique identifiers. Without these, we wouldn’t have a global internet; we’d have a bunch of disconnected networks.

Their main job is managing the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) functions:

  1. Domain Names: Managing the DNS Root Zone (the master list of all TLDs like .com, .np, .org).
  2. IP Addresses: Allocating blocks of IP addresses to regional registries (like APNIC for our region).
  3. Protocol Parameters: Managing technical protocols so computers speak the same language.

Crucial Point: ICANN does NOT police content. They cannot take down a website because it posted “fake news” or “hate speech.” They only care about the technical mapping of names and numbers.

The Alphabet Soup: SOs and ACs

ICANN works on a bottom-up, multistakeholder model. This means the Board of Directors doesn’t just sit in a room and invent laws. Policies “bubble up” from the community.

The community is organized into groups with lots of acronyms. Here is your cheat sheet:

1. Supporting Organizations (The Policy Makers)

These groups develop the actual policies.

  • GNSO (Generic Names Supporting Organization): Represents the biggest chunk—registries (.com), registrars (GoDaddy), businesses, and intellectual property owners. If you want to create a new domain like .hotel or .nepal, the rules start here.
  • ccNSO (Country Code Names Supporting Organization): Represents country codes like .np, .uk, .in. They are more independent because country sovereignty is involved.
  • ASO (Address Supporting Organization): Deals with IP address policy (managed by Regional Internet Registries).

2. Advisory Committees (The Advisors)

These groups give advice to the Board to make sure policies are safe and fair.

  • GAC (Governmental Advisory Committee): Governments from around the world (including Nepal). They advise on public policy issues (e.g., “Don’t let someone register .amazon if it hurts the Amazon region”—a real dispute!).
  • ALAC (At-Large Advisory Committee): Represents Internet Users (you and me). Their job is to ask, “How does this affect the average user?”
  • SSAC (Security and Stability Advisory Committee): The technical experts who warn if a policy might break the internet.

How a Decision is Made (The PDP)

So, let’s say we want a new rule: “Should we allow emojis in domain names?” (Please don’t, but hypothetically).

It doesn’t happen overnight. It follows a Policy Development Process (PDP):

  1. Issue Identification: Someone says, “Hey, we need a rule for this.”
  2. Scoping: The GNSO creates a working group. Anyone can join—even you.
  3. Deliberation: They argue. A lot. For months or years. They try to find Consensus.
  4. Public Comment: The draft is put online for the world to criticize.
  5. Final Report: The group sends the final policy to the GNSO Council.
  6. Board Vote: The GNSO sends it to the ICANN Board. The Board asks the GAC and ALAC for advice. If everyone agrees, they vote YES.
  7. Implementation: ICANN staff turns the policy into code and contracts.

Why this Matters for Nepal

Nepal is growing digitally. We have our own .np (managed by Mercantile internally), but our businesses use .com and .org heavily.

  • Universal Acceptance (UA): Can we have domain names in Devanagari? Yes! ICANN is working on this. Imagine typing नेपाल.सरकार in your browser. That policy work happens at ICANN.
  • IP Addressing: As we move to IPv6, the policies on how we get those addresses matter for our ISPs.

My Takeaway

Participating in ICANN (via APIGA or fellowships) taught me that consensus is hard but necessary. In a room with American lawyers, Chinese tech giants, and African civil society activists, finding a middle ground takes patience. But it’s the only way to run a global resource without one country taking over.

Next time you register a domain, remember: there is a massive machinery of people arguing in meeting rooms to make sure that simple action works seamlessly.

Next up: We get technical. We’re going to dive into the nuts and bolts of Names and Numbers—DNS, IPs, and Root Servers.