On this day in ...... 1998, the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, "assumed oversight of the internet structure from the U.S. government, from which it also received its original charter." Based in the Los Angeles County coastal community of Marina del Rey, California, ICANN, as the private nonprofit corporation is best known, operates, as explained by Wired writer Tony Long, "essentially as the internet's traffic cop." In this capacity, it "assigns web addresses to individuals, companies and other organizations."
