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<title>Internationalization of the Internet Marks Historic Agreement</title>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>FYI</span></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><img id="_x0000_i1025"
src="http://www.vocus.com/images/pr/icannheader2_logo.jpg"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>FOR
RELEASE:
</span></strong><span lang=EN-GB>Immediate </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>MEDIA
CONTACTS:
</span></strong><span lang=EN-GB>Mike Silber</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:1.5in;text-indent:.5in'><span lang=EN-GB>ICANN
Board Member</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:2.0in'><span lang=EN-GB>Bromhof, South
Africa<u><br>
</u>Ph. +27 82 773 1288</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:1.5in;text-indent:.5in'><span lang=EN-GB><a
href="mailto:mike.silber@icann.org">mike.silber@icann.org</a></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:1.5in;text-indent:.5in'><span lang=EN-GB> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:2.0in'><span lang=EN-GB>Anne-Rachel Inne<br>
ICANN Regional Manager for Africa</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:1.5in;text-indent:.5in'><span lang=EN-GB>Niger,
Africa</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:1.5in;text-indent:.5in'><span lang=EN-GB>Ph.
+ 1 323 304 3420</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:1.5in;text-indent:.5in'><span lang=EN-GB><a
href="mailto:anne-rachel.inne@icann.org">anne-rachel.inne@icann.org</a></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:1.5in;text-indent:.5in'><span lang=EN-GB> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:1.5in;text-indent:.5in'><span lang=EN-GB> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><strong><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Internationalization
of the Internet Marks Historic Agreement</span></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><strong><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> </span></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Washington,
D.C… September 30, 2009… </span></strong>ICANN has signed an historic
Affirmation Agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce that confirms the
effectiveness of the ICANN model of international multi-stakeholder and
bottom-up governance of the global Internet addressing system. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>“This means that there can no longer be any doubt that the
Internet belongs to the world and is not under the control of any single
government or special interest group,” said <span lang=EN-GB>Mike Silber</span>,
a member of ICANN’s Board of Directors. “The very fact that I, as a
citizen of <span lang=EN-GB>South Africa</span> serve on ICANN’s board, along
with representatives from around the world speaks to the international
diversity of this very unique organization.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>“This new Affirmation marks an exciting new stage in ICANN’s
development as a truly international entity and it confirms once and for all,
that the ICANN model of public participation works, and works effectively” said
Rod Beckstrom, ICANN Chief Executive Officer. “One world, one Internet,
everyone connected – this is our goal at ICANN. This agreement gives
international stakeholders an even more powerful voice in our activities moving
forward.”<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>“The Internet is global and it is critical that its
governance reflect its international nature,” said Peter Dengate Thrush, a New
Zealander who serves as ICANN’s Chairman of the Board. “Now we can
clearly say that a new era of the Internationalization of the Internet has
begun.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>“This historic agreement is only one part of this
internationalization process,” said Mike Silber. “Soon because of ICANN’s Internationalized
Domain Name (IDN) program, all portions of an Internet domain name may be
made-up of characters from almost any language. This will lead to a huge
increase in Internet users from regions in the world, such as the Middle East
or Asia, where people may not be using computer keyboards with Latin-based
characters.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span lang=EN-GB>###</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>To read the Affirmation Agreement go here:<br>
<a
href="http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30sep09-en.htm#affirmation">http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30sep09-en.htm#affirmation</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>To read the reactions of various business and government
leaders go here:<br>
<a
href="http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30sep09-en.htm#reaction">http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30sep09-en.htm#reaction</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>To see a videotaped interview with CEO Rod Beckstrom on the
Affirmation Agreement go here:<br>
<a
href="http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30sep09-en.htm#video">http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30sep09-en.htm#video</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>To learn more about ICANN’s Internationalized Domain Name
(IDN) program go here:<br>
<a href="http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/factsheet-idn-program-05jun09.pdf">http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/factsheet-idn-program-05jun09.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><strong><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:8.0pt;color:black'>About ICANN:</span></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:8.0pt;color:black'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:8.0pt;color:black'>To
reach another person on the Internet you have to type a domain name of IP
address into your computer. It has to be unique so computers know where
to find each other. ICANN coordinates these unique identifiers across the
world. Without that coordination we wouldn't have one global Internet. ICANN
was formed in 1998. It is a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation with
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. ICANN doesn’t control content on the Internet.
It cannot stop spam and it doesn’t deal with access to the Internet. But
through its coordination role of the Internet’s naming system, it does have an
important impact on the expansion and evolution of the Internet.<strong><span
style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> For more information please visit:</span></strong><span
class=apple-converted-space><b> </b></span></span><span lang=EN-GB><a
href="http://www.icann.org/"><strong><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:
"Calibri","sans-serif"'>www.icann.org</span></strong></a></span><strong><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:black'>.</span></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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