In 1985, Symbolics registered the first .com domain name. At that time, domain name registration was just emerging, and there were only a few applicants.
In 1993, the WWW protocol appeared on the Internet, and domain names became popular.
In 1993, Network Solutions (NSI) signed a five-year contract with the U.S. government to be the exclusive agent for the registration rights of three international top-level domain names: .COM, .ORG, and .NET. At that time, the total number of domain names was only about 7,000.
In 1994, NSI began to charge a registration fee of US$100 for each domain name, and an annual management fee of US$50 after two years.
At the beginning of 1998, NSI had registered more than 1.2 million domain names, 90% of which used the .COM suffix, and had earned more than 60 million US dollars. Some people estimate that by mid-1999, the company will generate annual revenue of US$200 million from domain name registration fees alone.
On July 1, 1997, as part of the U.S. government’s global e-commerce system management policy, President Clinton commissioned the U.S. Department of Commerce to privatize the domain name system, introduce a competition mechanism, and promote international participation. On July 2, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced an invitation to solicit proposals and evaluations from the public, regarding the role of the U.S. government in domain name management, the overall structure of the domain name system, the addition of new top-level domain names, the policies of registration agencies, and trademark matters. Questions solicit opinions from all parties.
On January 30, 1998, the U.S. government’s Department of Commerce officially announced the “Draft for Improvement of Domain Name Technical Management (Discussion Draft)” through its website. The green paper, chaired by President Clinton's Internet policy adviser McGregor, affirms that the U.S. government will carefully and gently transfer the management of Internet domain names from the U.S. government to private institutions. The green paper summarizes the issues surrounding domain names. The four basic principles are: stability of the transition process, competitiveness of the domain name system, thorough collaboration and civil society, and representativeness that reflects the needs of all international users. Under these principles, the Green Paper proposes to form a private, non-profit enterprise to take over the management of domain names, and transfer the domain name management functions of the US government to this joint enterprise before September 30, 1998, and by 2000 at the latest The transfer of all management roles will be successfully completed before September 30.
In June 1998, the Clinton administration issued a white paper recommending that non-profit organizations take over the government's domain name management functions. The report did not describe how the agency would be funded, but set out some guidelines and recommended the formation of a non-profit conglomerate.
On September 30, 1998, the US government terminated its contract with the current domain name provider NSI. An existing agreement between the two parties will be extended for two years to September 30, 2000. According to the agreement, NSI will work with other companies to undertake the registration of Internet top-level domain names. NSI and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce will launch the exclusive registration system in phases starting on March 31, 1999, and will be fully implemented on June 1, 1999.
In October 1998, ICANN, a non-profit Internet management organization, was established. It signed an agreement with the US government and took over the original responsibilities of IANA, responsible for monitoring policies and protocols related to Internet domain names and addresses, while the government adopted a non-intervention policy.