[kictanet] Internationalization of the Internet Marks Historic Agreement

Wed Sep 30 17:06:05 EAT 2009

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anne-Rachel Inne <anne-rachel.inne at icann.org>
Date: Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 5:02 PM
Subject: [AfrICANN-discuss] FW: Internationalization of the Internet Marks
Historic Agreement
To: "africann at afrinic.net" <africann at afrinic.net>

 FYI

*FOR RELEASE:                    *Immediate

*MEDIA CONTACTS:                        *Mike Silber

ICANN Board Member

Bromhof, South Africa*
*Ph. +27 82 773 1288

mike.silber at icann.org

Anne-Rachel Inne
ICANN Regional Manager for Africa

Niger, Africa

Ph. + 1 323 304 3420

anne-rachel.inne at icann.org

*Internationalization of the Internet Marks Historic Agreement*

* *

*Washington, D.C… September 30, 2009… *ICANN has signed an historic
Affirmation Agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce that confirms the
effectiveness of the ICANN model of international multi-stakeholder and
bottom-up governance of the global Internet addressing system.

“This means that there can no longer be any doubt that the Internet belongs
to the world and is not under the control of any single government or
special interest group,” said Mike Silber, a member of ICANN’s Board of
Directors.  “The very fact that I, as a citizen of South Africa serve on
ICANN’s board, along with representatives from around the world speaks to
the international diversity of this very unique organization.”

“This new Affirmation marks an exciting new stage in ICANN’s development as
a truly international entity and it confirms once and for all, that the
ICANN model of public participation works, and works effectively” said Rod
Beckstrom, ICANN Chief Executive Officer. “One world, one Internet, everyone
connected – this is our goal at ICANN. This agreement gives international
stakeholders an even more powerful voice in our activities moving forward.”

 “The Internet is global and it is critical that its governance reflect its
international nature,” said Peter Dengate Thrush, a New Zealander who serves
as ICANN’s Chairman of the Board.  “Now we can clearly say that a new era of
the Internationalization of the Internet has begun.”

“This historic agreement is only one part of this internationalization
process,” said Mike Silber. “Soon because of ICANN’s Internationalized
Domain Name (IDN) program, all portions of an Internet domain name may be
made-up of characters from almost any language. This will lead to a huge
increase in Internet users from regions in the world, such as the Middle
East or Asia, where people may not be using computer keyboards with
Latin-based characters.”

###

To read the Affirmation Agreement go here:
http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30sep09-en.htm#affirmation

To read the reactions of various business and government leaders go here:
http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30sep09-en.htm#reaction

To see a videotaped interview with CEO Rod Beckstrom on the Affirmation
Agreement go here:
http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30sep09-en.htm#video

To learn more about ICANN’s Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) program go
here:
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/factsheet-idn-program-05jun09.pdf

*About ICANN:*

To reach another person on the Internet you have to type a domain name of IP
address into your computer.  It has to be unique so computers know where to
find each other.  ICANN coordinates these unique identifiers across the
world. Without that coordination we wouldn't have one global Internet. ICANN
was formed in 1998. It is a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation with
participants from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet
secure, stable and interoperable. It promotes competition and develops
policy on the Internet’s unique identifiers. ICANN doesn’t control content
on the Internet. It cannot stop spam and it doesn’t deal with access to the
Internet. But through its coordination role of the Internet’s naming system,
it does have an important impact on the expansion and evolution of the
Internet.* For more information please visit:**
**www.icann.org*<http://www.icann.org/>
*.*

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-- 
Brian Munyao Longwe
e-mail: blongwe at gmail.com
cell:  + 254 722 518 744
blog : http://zinjlog.blogspot.com
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