Last night, the United States conceded that they can no longer hold ultimate authority over the internet, and gave control to ICANN. ICANN is a small, non-profit organization whos main purpose is to oversee internet tasks, such as running DNS. ICANN was funded in 1998, runs on a budget of approximately $15 million USD, and is responsible for registering various domains, such as .TRAVEL, .JOBS, and .COM. The United States agrees that

• That the US government recognises it has to transition its role if it wants to keep the internet in one piece (and it then has to sell that decision to a mindlessly patriotic electorate).
• That ICANN has to open up and allow more people to decide its course if it is going to be allowed to become the internet's main overseeing organisation.

The transition of the internet to ICANN, while historical, will be in no way easy. Canadian representative Bill Graham says "It is time for ICANN to recognise that it is in many ways a quasi-judicial body and it must begin to behave that way". ICANN has been notoriously secretive in the past, not revealing information about discussions before, and sometimes after, meetings.