On 1 October 2016, the IANA functions contract that the United States Government had with ICANN was allowed to expire. This represents the final step in the community-led IANA stewardship transition process that began in 2014.
From today, 1 October 2016, the IANA functions contract officially expired. As a result, the coordination and management of the Internet’s unique identifiers is now privatized and in the hands of the volunteer-based multistakeholder community.
The five Regional Internet Registries have a Service Level Agreement (SLA) in place with IANA that defines our expectations moving forward. A community-selected IANA Numbering Services Review Committee will assist the NRO Executive Council when it conducts periodic reviews of IANA’s services.
Users of the internet will not see any operational difference.