It may not mean much to most people but that is the US organization that controls all the domains of the world. The US being the biggest and most open nation has maintained control of the this organization through a relationship with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. This is a government agency. This agreement is over in 2015 and the government does not want to continue it. They would like to see a world governing body. I think we all know that the white house is behind this.
This is a very dangerous move that could cause a lot of changes to the internet. It would allow countries like China and Russia to tighten control and slow down and stop some of the openness and freedom we now have.
The end of the contract means the NTIA will not be able to continue to push ICANN to improve its services, as it has in recent years, NetChoice executive director Steve DelBianco said. In addition, ICANN could now “escape its legal presence in the US, despite having many contracts that are adjudicated under U.S. law,” he said.
U.S. Senator John “Jay” Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat and chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, called the announcement the “next phase” of a longtime commitment the U.S. government has made toward a global governance model.