Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

Internet’s Organizing Body: Nobody Actually Owns Country Codes, Not Even Countries. Or Us.

Internet’s Organizing Body: Nobody Actually Owns Country Codes, Not Even Countries. Or Us.

Does anyone actually own the internet? That might be the existential crisis of our age. We know companies own and operate websites, that other companies own the software that let us look at those sites, and that still other companies own and operate the physical infrastructure that allows us access to those sites. And when we stop to think about it, we know that there are registrars and regulations and standards in place that make specific parts of web addresses — the bits after the dot — work around the world. But does anyone own those? According to the organization that manages the names and numbers that make the whole system tick, the answer is a resounding no. [More]