News of the U.S. Department of Commerce's approval Nov. 30 of the deal between the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and VeriSign was met with both jubilation and disdain by those in the computer industry.
The deal will allow the agreement between ICANN, the non-profit company that oversees the Internet's technical infrastructure, and VeriSign to go forward, and gives VeriSign control over the dot-com top level domain until 2012.
VeriSign has operated the dot-com registry since 1999 under a contract granted by ICANN. Though ICANN is a California-based non-profit company, some of its decisions, such as the awarding of major contracts, require federal approval.
"[The DOC is] respecting ICANN's authority and the contract it has made," said Steve DelBianco, executive director of the Netchoice Coalition. Netchoice is a collection of trade associations and e-commerce businesses, and has come out in support of the agreement.