ICANN president and CEO Rod Beckstrom warned the public that the group can expect excitement, opportunity, uncertainty and threats in the days to come. ICANN is one of the key players in the function and accessibility of today’s global internet. They have been charged with the task of coordinating and segregating domain names throughout the world and managing the complex, demanding task of enabling IP addresses to recognize each other across cyberspace.

The coordination of individual IP addresses to specific domain names used to be a task of the US government. Since the government has allowed these operations to go private, a few kinks still have to be ironed out.  While ICANN is unable to alter any content on the internet, their intimate control of the global web and much of its inner-workings has sparked some controversy. Beckstrom is aware of the ethical dilemmas and is optimistic about implementing major changes to circumvent them.

ICANN has been criticized for being a group that controls the Domain Name System while many of its key players and leadership positions are occupied by execs from the Domain Name industry. This creates a clear conflict of interest. ICANN is a not-for-profit group who is not supposed to represent or promote the financial interests of any parties. Chief criticisms have stemmed from the idea that power players on the ICANN team can exploit the group’s manipulation of the internet to serve their own corporate needs.

Other criticisms have come from the intimate access these supposedly neutral parties’ possess. This kind of power can invade privacy and lead to motives that are fraudulent . Risk for this type of abuse is wide open to corporate executives who act in a biased, self-serving way. Personal information and data can be used to illegally bolster profits. Any person or group who wishes to register their business as a top level domain name can become an accredited registrar by making an agreement with ICANN. Critics see this is as a clash of interested when the heads of top level domain names are themselves high ranking members at ICANN.

Beckstrom held a speech in Costa Rico where he declared that it is time to “tighten up the rules that have allowed perceived conflicts to exist within our board.” Beckstrom is adamant that the necessary changes needed to make ICANN a neutral public service can be achieved. If Beckstrom fulfills his stated intentions, he will “ensure that absolute dedication to the public good supersedes all other priorities.”

Domain · Domain Name Registration · ICANN · Risk · Security

There are two major concerns every website owner and web hosting UK customer should have about the possibility of stolen domains. First of all, you want to ensure your domain name is not stolen out from under you. Secondly, you want to make sure you do not accidentally buy a stolen domain name that actually belongs to someone else.

How can you do this? Well, let’s first look at keeping your own domain safe. Ensure that the business web hosting service you hire to buy your domain for you has your most current information associated with the domain. If you sign up with the registrar using an email you end up later cancelling or abandoning, it’s easy for someone to break into your email, request the domain password, and steal your domain name from you. Also, keep up to date with domain renewal ahead of time.

For domain names you buy, check with your business web hosting service for help on verifying the domain’s authenticity. Only buy domains from someone you know and trust (such as a reputable company). If someone appears to be less than trustworthy, they very well may be trying to sell a domain they have stolen. Be smart and thorough, though, and you should have no problem.

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