An Advisory Committee is a formal advisory body made up of representatives from the Internet community to advise ICANN on a particular issue or policy area. Several are mandated by the ICANN Bylaws and others may be created as needed. Advisory committees have no legal authority to act for ICANN, but report their findings and make recommendations to the ICANN Board.
Advisory Committee on Independent Review (IRAC)
Advisory Committee on Independent Review
The IRAC is charged with the recommending a structure for independent
third-party review of the decisions of the ICANN Board of Directors.
APNIC is a non-profit membership organization responsible for the administration
and registration of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses in the Asia-Pacific
region, including Japan, Korea, China, and Australia.
ARIN is a non-profit membership organization established for the purpose
of the administration and registration of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses
in the geographical areas previously managed by Network Solutions, Inc.
Those areas include North America, South America, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan
Africa.
Once formed, the ASO will be an advisory body that will advise the ICANN
Board of Directors on policy issues relating to the allocation and management
of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Each of ICANN's three supporting
organizations, including the ASO, will name three Directors to the ICANN
Board.
DNS
Domain Name System
The DNS is the hierarchical system by which easy-to-remember, human-friendly
names like "icann.org" are associated with Internet locations.
DNSO
Domain Name Supporting Organization
The DNSO is an advisory body that advises the ICANN Board of Directors
on policy issues relating to the Domain Name System. The DNSO consists
of a General Assembly, a Names Council, and seven Constituency Groups.
Each of ICANN's three supporting organizations, including the DNSO, will
name three Directors to the ICANN Board.
The GAC is an advisory committee comprising appointed representatives
of national governments, multi-national governmental organizations and
treaty organizations, and distinct economies. Its function is to advise
the ICANN Board on matters of concern to governments. The GAC will operate
as a forum for the discussion of government interests and concerns, including
consumer interests. As an advisory committee, the GAC has no legal authority
to act for ICANN, but will report its findings and recommendations to
the ICANN Board. The Chairman of the GAC is Dr. Paul Twomey of Australia.
The IANA is the authority originally responsible
for the oversight of IP address allocation, the coordination of the assignment
of protocol parameters provided for in Internet technical standards, and
the management of the DNS, including the delegation of top-level domains
and oversight of the root name server system. Under ICANN, the IANA continues
to distribute addresses to the Regional Internet Registries, coordinate
with the IETF and others to assign protocol parameters, and oversee the
operation of the DNS.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers
ICANN is a global non-profit corporation
formed to oversee a select range of Internet technical management functions
currently managed by the U.S. Government, or by its contractors and volunteers.
Between now and September 2000. ICANN is gradually taking over responsibility
for coordinating the assignment of protocol parameters, the management
of the domain name and root server systems, and the allocation of IP address
space.
The IETF is a large open international community
of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with
the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of
the Internet. It is open to any interested individual.
The communications protocol underlying the
Internet, IP allows large, geographically-diverse networks of computers
to communicate with each other quickly and economically over a variety
of physical links. An Internet Protocol Address is the numerical address
by which a location in the Internet is identified. Computers on the Internet
use IP addresses to route traffic and establish connections among themselves;
people generally use the human-friendly names made possible by the Domain
Name System.
ISOC
The Internet Society
The Internet Society is the international
organization for global cooperation and coordination for the Internet
and its internetworking technologies and applications. ISOC membership
is open to any interested person.
An ISP is a company which provides access
to the Internet to organizations and/or individuals. Access services provided
by ISPs may include webhosting, email, VoIP (voice over IP), and support
for many other applications.
NSI
Network Solutions, Inc
NSI is the company currently acting as the
registry for the top level domains 'org', 'net' and 'com', pursuant to
a cooperative agreement with the United States Government that will expire
in September 2000. In addition, NSI is one of several companies competing
to offer registrar services in those top level domains.
The PSO is an advisory body that will advise
the ICANN Board of Directors on policy issues relating to protocol parameter
numbers, which let computers exchange information and manage communications
over the Internet. Each of ICANN's three supporting organizations, including
the PSO, will name three Directors to the ICANN Board.
RIPE is an open and voluntary organization
which consists of European Internet service providers. The RIPE NCC acts
as the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Europe and surrounding areas,
performs coordination activities for the organizations participating in
RIPE, and allocates blocks of IP address space to its Local Internet Registries
(LIRs), which then assign the addresses to end-users.
There are currently three RIRs: APNIC, ARIN,
and RIPE NCC. These non-profit organizations are responsible for distributing
IP addresses on a regional level to internet service providers and local
registries.
SO
Supporting Organizations
The SOs are the three specialized advisory
bodies that will advise the ICANN Board of Directors on issues relating
to domain names (DNSO), IP addresses (ASO), and protocol standards (PSO).
Each SO will name three individuals to the ICANN Board of Directors.
TLD
Top-level Domain
TLDs are the names at the top of the DNS
naming hierarchy. They appear in domain names as the string of letters
following the last (rightmost) ".", such as "net" in "www.example.net".
The administrator for a TLD controls what second-level names are recognized
in that TLD. The administrators of the "root domain" or "root zone" control
what TLDs are recognized by the DNS. Commonly used TLDs include .com,
.net, .edu, .jp, .de, etc.
URL
Uniform Resource Locator
A URL is the distinct address that identifies
each resource on the Internet. More formally, a URL is the networked extension
of the standard filename concept that can exist on any machine on the
network and served via any of several different methods. An example of
a URL is <http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/guides/glossary/url.html>
W3C
World Wide Web Consortium
The W3C is an international industry consortium
founded in October 1994 to develop common protocols that promote the evolution
of the World Wide Web and ensure its interoperability. Services provided
by the Consortium include: a repository of information about the World
Wide Web for developers and users; reference code implementations to embody
and promote standards; and various prototype and sample applications to
demonstrate use of new technology.
WIPO is an intergovernmental organization
based in Geneva, Switzerland responsible for the promotion of the protection
of intellectual rights throughout the world. It is one of the 16 specialized
agencies of the United Nations system of organizations.
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