ICANN was appointed by the U.S. Government in 1998.
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) meeting Geneva in December 2003 signaled a growing rift between the U.S-based governing body and a group of international forces vying for control of the Internet, among them China, Cuba, Syria, Egypt, Vietnam, and South Africa.
The countries that are calling for a shift in power are proposing that control be handed over to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), or to a governing body assembled by the United Nations.
A task force has since been appointed to address the issue of the United Nations' future involvement in ICANN-related matters and is scheduled to meet in New York this week.
Interest in upseating ICANN comes from a growing desire to see a more "neutral" global governance body in control that will bring poorer nations into the Internet fold.
Proposals for a shift in Internet governance have so far met with fiery resistance from U.S. delegates and ICANN, who believe firmly that Internet control should remain within the private sector.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and ICANN Chairman Vint Cerf will lead discussions at the New York meeting, which includes conferences on domain names, technical standards, network security, and a discussion titled "Accumulated Concerns, Perspectives, and Exploring How We Can Cooperate."
ICANN held its first meeting of 2004 in Rome for a Global Outreach forum where European delegates gave their endorsement to ICANN's technical coordination of the Domain Name System (DNS).
"One of the most important reasons for the Internet's success is that no single entity controls it," Italy's Minister for Innovation and Technology stated. "We see ICANN as an asset. It should play a major role in the future."