Inland Waterways » hington a symbolic role as overseer or the inter

When an agreement with the US Commerce Department runs out Henrik Lundqvist White Jersey , ICANN will become a self-regulating non-profit international entity (AFP PhotoAndrew Cowie)
Washington - The US government on Saturday ended its formal oversight role over the internet, handing over management of the online address system to a global non-profit entity.


The US Commerce Department announced that its contract had expired with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which manages the internet's so-called ""root zone.""


That leaves ICANN as a self-regulating organization that will be operated by the internet's ""stakeholders"" -- engineers, academics Ryan McDonagh White Jersey , businesses, non-government and government groups.


The move is part of a decades-old plan by the US to ""privatize"" the internet, and backers have said it would help maintain its integrity around the world.


US and ICANN officials have said the contract had given Washington a symbolic role as overseer or the internet's ""root zone"" where new online domains and addresses are created.


But critics, including some US lawmakers Mika Zibanejad Black Jersey , argued that this was a ""giveaway"" by Washington that could allow authoritarian regimes to seize control.


A last-ditch effort by critics to block the plan -- a lawsuit filed by four US states -- failed when a Texas federal judge refused to issue an injunction to stop the transition.


Lawrence Strickling, who heads the Commerce Department unit which has managed these functions, issued a brief statement early Saturday confirming the transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).


""As of October 1, 2016 Mats Zuccarello Black Jersey , the IANA functions contract has expired,"" he said.


Stephen Crocker, ICANN's board chairman and one of the engineers who developed the early internet protocols, welcomed the end of the contract.


""This transition was envisioned 18 years ago Henrik Lundqvist Black Jersey , yet it was the tireless work of the global Internet community, which drafted the final proposal, that made this a reality,"" he said in a statement.


""This community validated the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance