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After 11 years, the not-for-profit group Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers–which we all know as ICANN–is becoming more independent.

ICANN has managed internet domain names since 1998, but up until now had been closely tied to the US Department of Commerce. Going forward ICANN will…

…operate as a more independent entity. Other governments and the private sector will now have a greater say in how domains will be managed. The Commerce Department will continue to hold a seat on ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee, but it’s influence will now be on par with that of other members of the organization.

Those other members are so excited that they, well, forgot how to speak in plain English. If this statement from Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, is any indication of the future of ICANN, we can likely expect continued bureaucracy–just not all US biased:

ICANN will now commit to a “multi-stakeholder, private sector led, bottom-up policy development model for DNS technical coordination.”

Yeah, what she said.

Now we just need to wait and see what comes out of ICANN, now that there are not as many political pressures. For example, the proposed .xxx TLD for adult sites, was shot down after pressure on the US government by conservative advocacy groups. Could .xxx domains now be back on the table?

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