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Puerto Rico to host ICANN conference in fall of 2016

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, known as ICANN, will host its third public meeting of 2016 in Puerto Rico, from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4, the organization announced late last week.

“Based on the proposals and analysis, ICANN has identified San Juan, Puerto Rico as the location for ICANN 57,” the nonprofit organization confirmed.

ICANN was formed in 1998 to oversee the Internet’s naming system. The nonprofit has participants from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet’s unique identifiers.

“The public meeting is the ICANN’s biggest meeting, with no less than 1,000 people expected to attend from different countries, and different stakeholders,” said Javier Rúa-Jovet, president of the Puerto Rico Telecommunications Regulatory Board, who was present at the meeting in Buenos Aires where Puerto Rico was selected as next year’s host.

He gave credit to the Puerto Rico Internet Society for also supporting the island’s bid to host the conference and prevail over Hawaii, which was the final contender against Puerto Rico.

At present, ICANN — which is under the auspices of the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration — is going through a transition whereby it will transfer its oversight of Internet domain name functions to a global multi-stakeholder community of a number of countries. Participants have been asked to develop a proposal to transition the current role played by NTIA in the coordination of the Internet’s domain name system to integrate more participants around the globe.

It is expected that the transition will be completed by 2016, and it is likely that it could be formalized at the meeting in Puerto Rico, Rúa-Jovet said.

Author Details
Author Details
Business reporter with 30 years of experience writing for weekly and daily newspapers, as well as trade publications in Puerto Rico. My list of former employers includes Caribbean Business, The San Juan Star, and the Puerto Rico Daily Sun, among others. My areas of expertise include telecommunications, technology, retail, agriculture, tourism, banking and most other segments of Puerto Rico’s economy.
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