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MANAGING CRITICAL INTERNET RESOURCES

The term critical Internet resources is described by the report of the United Nations Working Group on

Internet Governance as including the administration of the domain name system (DNS) and Internetprotocol (IP) addresses, administration of the root server system, technical standards, peering andinterconnection, and telecommunications infrastructure, including innovative and convergenttechnologies.

IP addresses are the numbers that uniquely identify and enable the connection of devices on theInternet. With the rapid growth of the Internet and the number of devices connected on it, expertsestimate that the central pool of the currently most used version of IP addresses, IPv4, may be depleted

sometime around 2011. IP version 6 (IPv6) has coexisted along IPv4 since 1999, and appears to provide an

alternative to depletion of the IPv4 address pool.

The eventual exhaustion of unassigned IPv4 addresses has been a recurrent issue raised at IGF meetings.In previous meetings, the Forum has heightened awareness about IPv4 to IPv6 transition issues, includingsuggestions on creating an environment where public demand will be enough to prompt vendor support,and enable network operators to step up transition from IPv4 to IPv6.

The Forum will continue to explore these IP transition-related issues. It will also carry on with discussionon the arrangements that are needed for better Internet governance, including policy issues andmanagement of the technical components at the local, regional and global level.

After the expiration of the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) at the end of September, ICANN and the USDepartment of Commerce signed anAffirmation of Commitments (AoC). The AoC contains a commitment

to further improve the transparency and accountability of ICANN with the full involvement of allstakeholders. It will set in motion a review process that will give a greater say to all interestedgovernments, not just the United States, thus contributing to the further internationalization of criticalInternet resources management.

In the wake of these arrangements between ICANN and the US Department of Commerce regarding theattribution of the domain name system, the Forum is expected to revisit its discussions on the role ofgovernments in Internet governance in general.

Enhanced cooperation - called for by the World Summit on the Information Society in 2005 -- is oneother item to be discussed under the theme Managing Critical Internet Resources. Although often

mentioned during the first two IGF meetings, the subject was not on the Forum agenda until the last

meeting in Hyderabad.

There is no consensus on its real meaning, yet there is a general sense that discussions are having apositive impact on global Internet governance. Many believe that the existence of the IGF and its abilityto engage Governments, business and civil society in a productive dialogue could be considered as anexample of enhanced cooperation.

The Forum will pursue its discussion on the meaning of enhanced cooperation. It will also consider thechallenges as well as opportunities.

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Other topics to be discussed under the theme Managing Critical Internet Resources include theimportance of new top-level domains (TLDs) and Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs).

Issued by the United Nations Department of Public Information