Changes

'''By '''[[Steve Crocker]]''' - Chair, [[ICANN Board]] of Directors'''

'''By '''[[Steve Crocker]]''' - Chair, [[ICANN Board]] of Directors'''

"No one expected addressing and naming to be either difficult or contentious. Close to fifty years ago, when the early network visionaries focused on transforming computer-to-computer communication and opening up an untold range of applications, no one paid any attention to the “minor” details of addressing and naming. As the Internet exploded in the 1990s. the naming system had become a very big deal. The small and fairly informal process Jon Postel had been carrying out on behalf of the community needed a more formal structure. ICANN was born in late 1998 with the explicit task of housing the IANA function. The U.S. Government intended to oversee ICANN’s execution of the IANA just temporarily. “Temporarily” was estimated to be about two years. Eighteen years later, the U.S. Government has finally stepped back from its role of overseeing ICANN. We – and by “we” I mean the entire global Internet community – are now in charge of the system. It is both nothing and everything. Internet users saw no change in the operation of the Internet when the IANA contract came to an end. On the other hand, we have now embarked on a whole new phase in governance of identifier system of the Internet. I think we’re in very good shape, but I wonder what our successors say 20 and 50 years from now."</div>

"No one expected addressing and naming to be either difficult or contentious. Close to fifty years ago, when the early network visionaries focused on transforming computer-to-computer communication and opening up an untold range of applications, no one paid any attention to the “minor” details of addressing and naming. As the Internet exploded in the 1990s. the naming system had become a very big deal. The small and fairly informal process Jon Postel had been carrying out on behalf of the community needed a more formal structure. ICANN was born in late 1998 with the explicit task of housing the IANA function. The U.S. Government intended to oversee ICANN’s execution of the IANA just temporarily. “Temporarily” was estimated to be about two years. Eighteen years later, the U.S. Government has finally stepped back from its role of overseeing ICANN. We – and by “we” I mean the entire global Internet community – are now in charge of the system. It is both nothing and everything. Internet users saw no change in the operation of the Internet when the IANA contract came to an end. On the other hand, we have now embarked on a whole new phase in governance of identifier system of the Internet. I think we’re in very good shape, but I wonder what our successors say 20 and 50 years from now."

==Personal Testimonials==

==Personal Testimonials==