US no longer controls internet's 'domain name system'
The US government's contract with the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) to control the IP address space allocations has officially expired. ICANN, which was founded in 1998, is now a fully "multi-stakeholder" non-profit organisation that will control the web's naming system. The process has been underway since 1998 and was part of a move to internet privatization.