ICANN Historical Timeline

ICANN's history and the history of the Internet are interlinked, and the mission of ICANN was carried out prior to its formation by volunteers, governmental actors, and academic institutions. The following is an attempt to categorize the history (and prehistory) of ICANN and the Domain Name System into eras. Some eras are defined by technical and technological advances, while others are defined by policy initiatives, structural or operational changes to ICANN org, or a broader thematic push. For instance, the present era involves the globalization of access to and use of the Internet; despite ICANN being committed to the global Internet community from its inception, several trends are converging to make the present moment a fight for global and universal access and acceptance: the BRIC countries will represent the vast majority of Internet growth in the coming decade; Internationalized Domain Names are growing in prominence and the effort to ensure universal acceptance of alternate language scripts is as well; efforts to nationalize the DNS by China and Russia are forcing a broader conversation about the value and impact of a global Internet; and ICANN itself is aggressively seeking to improve its presence in and outreach to under-represented parts of the world.

This should not be taken as a canonical resource regarding ICANN's evolution. Technological and policy initiatives overlap. The boundaries for each era are necessarily fuzzy. Although the effort is to identify themes within the events and history of a given era, there is no guarantee that we have it "right," or that there is a "perfectly correct" representation of a given timeframe.

1968-1976: DARPA Era - The Birth of the Internet

ARPANET

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  NLS System at Stanford, 1968

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  The "Mother of All Demos," 1968

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  Concept drawing of ARPANET, 1969

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  Interface Message Processor, 1969

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  Queen Elizabeth II sends an email, 1976

The ARPANET was a product of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. MIT, the University of Southern California, UCLA, and the Stanford Research Institute, under contract with DARPA, were all instrumental in the development of technologies that are still used today in the modern Internet. Jon Postel, Vint Cerf, Steve Crocker, and other Internet pioneers were first connected with ARPANET projects and innovations.

1983 - 1989: Birth of the DNS

1986 - NSF launches NSFNet 1987 - Over 20,000 servers online hosting websites

1996 Internet Governance blueprint era: International Ad-Hoc Committee formed

1997 - MoU 1998 - green/white papers

1999-2002: (infant) ICANN

Privatization Marilyn Cade DNSO exists PSO, ASO are reserved

2002 ICANN Reform (toddler)

2003 2004

2007 - 2009 (youth) Infinite reviewing cycles begin

Request For Comments

Address Supporting Organization. Advises the Board with respect to policy issues relating to the operation, assignment, and management of Internet addresses (ICANN Bylaws).