Advisory Committee, within ICANN. A formally recognized body under the ICANN bylaws charged with advising the ICANN Board on policies within ICANN’s mission and scope. The bylaws recognize four ACs: the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), the Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC), and the Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC).

At-Large Advisory Committee, within ICANN. One of four formally recognized Advisory Committees in the ICANN bylaws. The ALAC represents the interests of internet end users and advises the ICANN Board on policies within ICANN’s mission and scope.

Address Supporting Organization. One of three Supporting Organizations in the ICANN community. The ASO reviews and develops recommendations and advises the ICANN Board on global internet number resource policy.

Country-Code Names Supporting Organization. One of three Supporting Organizations in the ICANN community. The ccNSO develops a limited set of policies relating to country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs). Membership consists of ccTLD managers. The ccNSO works together with the various ICANN constituencies and stakeholders on matters of common interest.

Cross-Community Working Group. An ICANN mechanism allowing any number of Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees within ICANN to work together to address issues of common interest that do not fall within the scope of a single Supporting Organization or Advisory Committee.

Council of European National Top-level domain Registries. An association of ccTLD registries primarily focused on Europe. Membership is open to any organization, corporate body or individual operating a ccTLD registry, without geographical restrictions. As of 2024, CENTR has 50 full members and eight associate members.

Governmental Advisory Committee. One of four Advisory Committees in the ICANN community. The GAC advises the ICANN Board on public policy issues, particularly in areas where ICANN policies intersect with national laws and international agreements. GAC membership includes representatives from national governments and distinct economies, and observers from intergovernmental organizations and multinational treaty organizations.

General Data Protection Regulation is a European Union data privacy and security law setting guidelines for the collection, processing, transfer and storage of personal information for individuals in the EU and the European Economic Area.

GDPR was adopted by the European Parliament and Council of the European Union in April 2016 and went into effect on May 25, 2018.

Generic Names Supporting Organization. One of three Supporting Organizations in the ICANN community. The GNSO develops policies relating to generic top-level domains (gTLDs). Membership consists of representatives advocating for gTLD registry, gTLD registrar, noncommercial, not-for-profit, business, intellectual property, and Internet service provider and connectivity interests. The GNSO Council manages the policy development process relating to gTLDs.

The council within the GNSO that manages the ICANN policy development process relating to generic top-level domains (gTLDs). For voting purposes, the GNSO Council is divided into two bodies called houses. The members of the Contracted Parties House represent the interests of gTLD registries and gTLD registrars. The members of the Non-Contracted Parties House represent the interests of commercial and noncommercial entities which have no contractual relationship with ICANN.

Internet Architecture Board. An advisory and governance body providing long-range technical direction for the internet. The IAB is a committee of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Society (ISOC) and is represented on ICANN’s Technical Liaison Group.

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. The suite of internet coordination functions relating to ensuring the assignment of globally unique protocol parameters, including management of the root of the Domain Name System (DNS) and the Internet Protocol (IP) address space. The IANA functions are delivered by Public Technical Identifiers (PTI), an affiliate of ICANN.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is the private, global multi-stakeholder nonprofit organization responsible for ensuring the stable, secure and reliable operation of the unified global internet. ICANN manages the domain name system, allocates the IP address space, assigns protocol parameters and manages the root server system (RSS).

Founded on Sept. 30, 1998, and headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif., ICANN oversees policy and standards development work in these four areas around the world.

Internet Engineering Task Force. An open, international community of network designers, developers, operators and researchers focused on the evolution of internet architecture and the stable operation of the internet. The IETF develops standards for the communication protocols that enable the flow of data over the global network. Because ICANN and the IETF rely on each other’s work, representatives from IETF are included on the ICANN Board and Nominating Committee.

The Internet Society. A non-profit advocacy group focused on maintaining the internet as an open, secure and trustworthy global technical infrastructure meant to “enrich people’s lives” and serve as “a force for good in society.” Founded in 1992, ISOC maintains chapters around the world and offices in Virginia, US and Geneva, Switzerland.

A non-profit organization that performs IANA functions. PTI is responsible for the operational aspects of coordinating the internet’s unique identifiers and maintaining the trust of the community to provide these services in an unbiased, responsible, and effective manner. PTI is an affiliate of ICANN, created in 2016 when stewardship of the IANA functions transitioned to the multistakeholder community.

A registry operator responsible for the allocation of internet number resources within a particular region of the world. Network operators apply to their RIR for these IP address and autonomous system (AS) resources and numbers.

The five RIRs are: the African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC) serves all of Africa; the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) serves Antarctica, Canada, the United States and some Caribbean countries and territories; the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) serves East, South and Southeast Asia and Oceania; the Latin America and Caribbean Network Information Centre (LACNIC) serves Latin America and some Caribbean countries; Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC) serves Central and West Asia, Europe and Russia.

The agreement between ICANN and registrars establishing the terms by which companies are accredited to act as a registrar for gTLDs.

An HTTP-based protocol that provides access to information about current domain name registrations and Internet Protocol address allocations. RDAP databases for assigned IP numbers are maintained by the Regional Internet Registries; databases for registered names are maintained under an ICANN agreement, with a temporary specification to deconflict ICANN and GDPR policies.

The RDAP profile was proposed by ICANN in August 2018, though discussions about the need for the technical evolution of registrant information databases and a successor to the WHOIS protocol began in 2010. The global amendment to the base gTLD agreement, making RDAP an official requirement, was effective Aug. 7, 2023, with a compliance deadline of Feb. 3, 2024, for gTLD registry operators and registrars.

An ICANN proof-of-concept project for a centralized ticketing system for requests to access nonpublic registration data related to gTLDs. Launched in November 2023, RDRS is expected to run for two years.

A set of online services registrars and registry operators of top-level domains provide to enable public access to domain name registration data. Currently, RDS are available for generic top-level domains through the WHOIS protocol and HTTP-based protocol directory services. Individual Regional Internet Registries also use RDS maintain a database of IP addresses that have been assigned in their region.

A contract between ICANN and the registry operator of a designated top-level domain (TLD) defining the rights, obligations and provisions for the registry operator to operate the TLD.

A contract between a registry operator and an ICANN-accredited registrar. This contract defines the terms under which a registrar agrees to perform domain name registration services for a designated generic top-level domain.

Informal reference to the collection of name servers responsible for answering queries for records in the root zone. Answers consist of an appropriate list of authoritative name servers for a queried top-level domain (TLD). Root servers are the first step in the hierarchy of resolving human-readable domain names to IP addresses.

The root zone is served by 12 root server operators (RSOs) managing 13 root identities, named A through M, with thousands of globally distributed instances using anycast routing to provide continuous, reliable resolution services.

The organizations responsible for managing the root service on the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses specified in the root zone and the root hints file. RSOs are volunteer organizations, receiving no compensation. RSOs are required by ICANN policy documents and protocols to be neutral, impartial and committed to providing service to all users, all networks and all top-level domains (TLDs) equally and to serving the IANA global root DNS namespace with complete and unmodified data.

Registrar Stakeholder Group. A stakeholder group within the Generic Names Supporting Organization that represents the interests and concerns of generic top-level domain registrars accredited by and under contract to ICANN. The RrSG is a member of the Contracted Parties House within the GNSO Council.

Root Server System Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee that advises the ICANN Board and the ICANN community on matters relating to the operation, administration, security and integrity of the Root Server System. The RSSAC consists of representatives from the root server operator (RSO) organizations and liaisons from other ICANN groups and partner organizations involved in the technical and operational management of the root zone.

Registries Stakeholder Group. A stakeholder group within ICANN’s Generic Names Supporting Organization that represents the interests and concerns of the generic top-level domain registries under contract to ICANN. The RySG is a member of the Contracted Parties House within the GNSO Council.

Supporting Organization, within ICANN. A formally recognized body under the ICANN Bylaws that is charged with developing policy recommendations for a particular area of ICANN's operations. Supporting Organizations are composed of volunteers from the community. The Bylaws recognize three SOs: the Address Supporting Organization (ASO), the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO), and the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO). Besides developing policy recommendations, SOs select directors for designated seats on the ICANN Board and participate in the nominating process to fill open Board positions.

Security and Stability Advisory Committee. One of four Advisory Committees in the ICANN community. The SSAC advises the ICANN Board and the ICANN community on issues relating to the security and integrity of the internet's naming and address allocation systems. Besides providing guidance on security matters during policy development, the SSAC monitors the naming and address allocation system for threats. Members of SSAC are appointed by the ICANN Board.

One type of identifier, outside of the DNS, in an alternative namespace, typically built on a blockchain.