Is ICANN a good company to work for?

Who owns ICANN?

In a recent post I argued that ICANN is the world's fourth-largest bank and deserves to be reined in.

My readers, and the commentariat, were not convinced. They pointed out that many in ICANN's leadership are lawyers and that no one except ICANN can vote on its decisions. If the public doesn't elect them, they argued, then who can we blame when things go wrong?

The answer is easy: We can always blame ICANN for its decisions. But this only works in the media, and it's unlikely to work in public policy debates. The reason is that the system has been designed with a built-in veto for a reason. ICANN was founded by governments. In fact, when it was first launched, it wasn't called ICANN; it was ICANN Corporation. As I said above, it was created by states because they believed their interests were best served by establishing a globally recognized system of Internet governance. At the time, there was talk about creating an independent multistakeholder organization. But by the early 2000s, this had all been forgotten and ICANN had established itself as a vehicle for state power. This explains why ICANN has such a reputation for secrecy.

There was a brief respite in 2024, when ICANN's board was expanded by the appointment of a new director, Don Tapscott. Tapscott was well-regarded for his leadership roles in the technology sector. For example, he had helped found the World Economic Forum, and later became a venture capitalist. He was also a prolific author, and a founding board member of TED, the conference series started by the late billionaire entrepreneur. At first, Tapscott seemed to be exactly the kind of outsider that ICANN needs to shake up its culture. His background was in entrepreneurship, and he was open to new ideas, including ones that didn't conform to traditional power structures. He immediately moved ICANN's meetings online, began making decision-making publicly available, and introduced two new board members from outside the domain name industry, John Maloney, an attorney at Google, and Michael Korteweg, a privacy researcher at the University of Amsterdam.

And then the trouble started. Tapscott tried to modernize ICANN and put its practices into the 21st century.

Is ICANN a good company to work for?

Yes

No

Is their company as trustworthy as they claim to be?

Yes. No

Would I be happy working there? Yes. No

Could you support me financially if I did become unemployed? Yes. No

Can you guarantee that they would not fire me or demote me in the near future? Yes. No

Have you given me my new position when we started dating? Yes. No

Would you give me a promotion or raise without having to prove my worth? Yes. No

How far along in the relationship is ICANN currently? How long have you been at your current job (ICANN)? Please rate yourself below based on these four categories: Very Important Low Important Somewhat Unimportant Not at all Important. I believe the company has a positive attitude toward sexual orientation. Yes No

Has anyone ever refused work based on their sexual orientation? Yes. No

Do they provide opportunities for career growth? Yes. No

Does the organization offer its employees health insurance? Yes. No

How would you rate the organization's safety policies?

How many people work at ICANN?

About 7,000, including about 1,800 staff.

What is the budget of ICANN? What is ICANN's funding source? It gets more than half its money from the U.S. Government.

Where does ICANN get its funding? U. Government, primarily from the U. Department of Commerce. ICANN also gets funding from the U. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. In addition, ICANN receives federal funds to administer the IANA functions. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is part of the U.

Where does ICANN get its money? ICANN gets money from the U. Government primarily through the U. Other important sources of revenue include the U. State Department, the United Nations, the IANA functions, the Internet Society, and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

Is ICANN a public or private corporation? It's a private corporation. ICANN was incorporated in 1997.

Are there any other organizations that help to administer the IANA functions? ICANN is the only organization that administers the IANA functions. The Internet Society and the non-profit Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) oversee IANA functions. The Internet Society also manages the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The National Telecommunications and Information Administration oversees the IANA functions. The Internet Society and the non-profit Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) oversee IANA functions. The Internet Society also manages the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Who is the president of ICANN?

Is ICANN a government agency?

The internet is a truly global thing now.

It's important that decisions made in one country don't impact another and so ICANN has been created to protect the free flow of information around the globe.

What is ICANN? ICANN is a multi-stakeholder community made up of governments, commercial internet operators, civil society organisations, academics, technical experts and more. Its mission is to coordinate the development, establishment, operation and governance of the Internet. It is a global consortium of governments, international agencies and businesses. It was formed in 1998 to protect the internet's core infrastructure and promote a free and open global information system for everyone.

How does ICANN operate? Governments like to pretend they are in charge of everything, but they're not. They are just in charge of what they tell us to do.

At ICANN, our mission is to secure the future of the Internet for all. We ensure this happens through a set of core principles and processes: Open participation. Anyone can participate in ICANN and no government or political body may be excluded from its processes or decisions.

Freedom of expression and freedom of information. All decisions of ICANN must be informed by and take account of the principle of free speech, information and expression, including the right of access to knowledge.

The right to communicate. Any decision of ICANN must take account of the right to communicate and the right of access to knowledge.

Protection of the Internet's core infrastructure. Any decision of ICANN must be based on technical and legal considerations and must not compromise the security of the Internet or harm its infrastructure.

Trust and confidence. Any decision of ICANN must be transparent and trustworthy and be supported by evidence.

Openness. Any decision of ICANN must be open and accountable.

Who are the members of ICANN? ICANN has two governing bodies. The Executive Committee and the Board of Directors. The Board is made up of representatives from each of ICANN's member groups.

What is the role of the Board? The Board of Directors is an executive committee. The Board has the power to accept or decline to act on any of the recommendations made by the working groups. As such, they are responsible for the day to day activities of the organization.