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What responsibilities does ICANN have for Internet domain names and numbers?
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ICANN is a nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the technical management of the Internet to ensure its stable and secure operation. Its primary responsibilities regarding domain names and numbers include:
- Domain Name System (DNS) Management: ICANN oversees the DNS, which translates human-readable domain names into computer-readable addresses. This includes managing top-level domains (TLDs) like .com, .org, and country-code domains.1
- Accreditation: It issues accreditations to independent registrars worldwide that are authorized to issue domain names to the public. ICANN maintains the authority to revoke these credentials if registrars fail to meet established agreements.1
- Dispute Resolution: To address conflicts such as cybersquatting, ICANN established the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy and licenses arbitration services to enforce it.1
- Technical Coordination: Through its management of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), ICANN coordinates key technical underpinnings of the network, including the management of the DNS root and the expansion of internationalized domain names to support non-Latin scripts.1