ICANN Marks Anniversary of Passing of Jon Postel

Oct 16, 2005 marks the seventh anniversary of Jon Postel's death. It very nearly coincides with the founding of ICANN. It is appropriate to remind ourselves of Jon's enduring legacy as the long-term Internet Assigned Numbers Authority in whose footsteps ICANN seeks to follow. The Internet world has changed immeasurably in just the last seven years. It is in use by over a billion people and on the order of 76 million second-level domain names have been registered and on the order of 2 billion Internet addresses have been allocated. The economic effects of the on-line world evolving atop the Internet infrastructure are far-reaching and the level of interest in policies associated with the Internet's unique systems of identification has reached high up in the world's governments and business enterprises. It seems fitting to be reminded in the context of the World Summit on the Information Society that the integrity, efficiency and reliability of ICANN's operation is vital to all who rely on the Internet for their daily activities. Those of us with responsibility for any aspect of ICANN's mission should seek to help carry out the work with the same sense of integrity and humility that marked Jon's stewardship for a quarter of a century.