Tuesday's [Oct 22, 2002] attack on the Internet's root servers should serve as a warning: Something is seriously wrong with the organization that supposedly governs the Internet and is responsible for the maintenance of the root servers.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a moribund bureaucracy centered on a culture of exclusivity and control, as was its predecessor, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). It has no legitimate charter for its authority, except that of cultural momentum. With its roots reaching back to the beginning, it is in control, period.
Over the years, ICANN, IANA and their methods have come in for criticism, but change has been slow. The original seven top-level domains, such as .com, .org, and .net, were not expanded until 2000, when public pressure and a shortage of names forced the organization to agree to expand the list. Two years later, however, the seven new top-level domains introduced have yet to be completely implemented.
ICANN's closed-door practices and unresponsiveness illustrate the seriousness of Tuesday's attack. Briefly crippling nine of the 13 root servers of the Internet, the attack reduced responsiveness and access to the Net by six percent. ICANN attempted to spin the outcome as a positive endorsement of its leadership. The truth of the matter is quite different.
