this paper is a draft working paper reflecting the preliminary findings of the drafting team. it
has been subject to review by all wgig members but it does not necessarily present a
consensus position nor does it contain agreed language accepted by every member. the purpose
of this draft is to provide a basis for the ongoing work of the group. it is therefore not to be seen
as a chapter of the final wgig report but rather as raw material that will be used when drafting
the report. this draft working paper has been published on the wgig website for public
comment so it will evolve taking into account input from governments and stakeholders.
overview
ip addresses and internet domain names constitute together the primary addressing system of the
internet.1
while ip addresses are mandatory to any internet operation in order to enable
computers and devices to communicate domain names simplify communication and accessibility
of the internet for all users.
originally the internet assigned numbers authority (iana) chartered by the internet
engineering task force (ietf) and the internet society (isoc) was “the overall authority for
the ip addresses the domain names and many other parameters used in the internet”.2
the
ution of the iana functions otherwise known as the technical management of the unique
identifiers of the internet comes under the responsibilities of the internet corporation for
assigned names and numbers (icann) in co-operation with the ietf isoc the rirs and the
gtld and cctld registry operators and registrars. the respective roles of these co-operating
organizations have been the result of an evolution over 35 years of the internet’s development.3
a description of the domain name system can be found in many of the ietf request for
comments (rfc)4
such as rfc 1591 rfc 1034 and rfc 10355
and the description of the
architecture for ip address allocation can be found in rfc 1518.6
while overall guidelines for the allocation of ip addresses with a largely historical background are out in rfc 2050 even
though it is has been replaced by more refined policies.