ICANN is in the news again, this time because China is fragrantly dismissing its authority.

From Ars technica: China gives itself its own top-level domains

In a move that could have enormous ramifications for how the Internet works, the government of China has decided to bypass ICANN altogether and set up its own set of TLDs and domain name servers. In addition to the .cn TLD, China will have three new Chinese-character TLDs equating to “dot China,” “dot com,” and “dot net.” The Ministry of Information Industry describes the changes this way:

Under the new system, besides “CN”, three Chinese TLD names “CN”, “COM” and “NET” are temporarily set. It means Internet users don’t have to surf the Web via the servers under the management of [ICANN] of the United States.

Ah, another nation clawing its ways out from under the icy clutches of American imperialism!