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????This post is in partnership with Time, which offers the latest news from around the world. The article below was originally published at Time.com

????美國政府上周五宣布將放棄對互聯(lián)網(wǎng)域名管理技術(shù)職能的控制。上周末，外界對這項(xiàng)聲明的評價(jià)褒貶不一。如果進(jìn)展順利的話，美國政府的此次放權(quán)應(yīng)該不會影響用戶的日常上網(wǎng)體驗(yàn)，但它標(biāo)志著互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的進(jìn)化邁出了重要的一步。

????雖然美國一直打算放棄對互聯(lián)網(wǎng)域名的管理監(jiān)控職能，但這個(gè)舉動還是引起了一些批評，有人擔(dān)心此舉或?qū)ヂ?lián)網(wǎng)的自由開放埋下隱患。與此同時(shí)，美國的這份聲明也得到了包括谷歌（Google）、康卡斯特（Comcast）、美國電話電報(bào)公司（AT&T）和威瑞森電信（Verizon）等幾大主流科技公司的積極回應(yīng)。

????互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的起源要追溯到上世紀(jì)60年代初。當(dāng)時(shí)，在美國政府的資助下，美國國防部高級研究計(jì)劃局（DARPA）發(fā)起的“ARPANET”項(xiàng)目得以發(fā)展起來。ARPANET最終與其它政府機(jī)構(gòu)、學(xué)術(shù)機(jī)構(gòu)和科研機(jī)構(gòu)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)形成連網(wǎng)，組成了一張“網(wǎng)絡(luò)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)”，成為現(xiàn)代互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的雛形。

????從那時(shí)起，美國政府就擔(dān)負(fù)起了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)地址分配的主要監(jiān)管職能，也就是負(fù)責(zé)管理大家耳熟能詳?shù)挠蛎到y(tǒng)（DNS）。它可以將數(shù)字形式的網(wǎng)絡(luò)地址解析成人們可以識別的網(wǎng)站名稱——比如time.com。十多年來，一直是一家名叫互聯(lián)網(wǎng)名稱與數(shù)字地址分配機(jī)構(gòu)（ICANN）的非盈利組織根據(jù)美國國家電信和信息管理局（NTIA）的外包合同履行域名的管理職能。

????《網(wǎng)絡(luò)治理全球戰(zhàn)爭》（The Global War for Internet Governance）的作者、美利堅(jiān)大學(xué)（American University）教授勞拉?蒂娜迪斯指出：“DNS系統(tǒng)就像一個(gè)電話簿，如果你知道某人的名字，你就可以找到他的電話號碼，給他打一個(gè)電話。大多數(shù)人都認(rèn)為這是理所當(dāng)然的事，因?yàn)樗麄儧]有意識到背后有這么一個(gè)基礎(chǔ)架構(gòu)支撐著互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的運(yùn)行?！?/p>

????誰將取代美國政府的職能繼續(xù)管理網(wǎng)絡(luò)DNS？這個(gè)問題目前還是個(gè)未知數(shù)。但美國政府已經(jīng)明確表示，它“不會接受由一個(gè)政府領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的組織或政府間組織來替代NTIA職能的提議”。原因是美國不希望任何一個(gè)或幾個(gè)政府（比如聯(lián)合國下屬的國際通訊聯(lián)合會）對互聯(lián)網(wǎng)管制施加不當(dāng)影響。

????蒂娜迪斯對《時(shí)代》雜志表示：“我們需要對網(wǎng)絡(luò)域名和數(shù)字地址進(jìn)行某種集中協(xié)調(diào)，因?yàn)槊總€(gè)域名和數(shù)字地址在全球必須都是唯一的。必須有人來確保網(wǎng)絡(luò)地址不會出現(xiàn)重復(fù)。最好是多個(gè)利益相關(guān)者都扮演一定的角色，形成某種力量平衡?！?/p>

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????The U.S. plan to relinquish stewardship of key technical functions that ensure the Internet runs properly drew praise and criticism over the weekend. If the process goes smoothly, it shouldn't affect the day-to-day Internet experience for users, but the shift, which was announced Friday by U.S. officials, represents an important development in the evolution of the Internet.

????Although the U.S. has long intended to give up its role overseeing the system of managing Internet domain names, the proposed transition has already attracted critics who fear that the Internet's free and open nature could be jeopardized. At the same time, the plan has received positive feedback from several major technology companies, including Google, Comcast, AT&T and Verizon.

????The origins of the Internet date back to the early 1960s, when the U.S. government funded research that led to the development of "ARPANET," which was established by the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). ARPANET was eventually connected to other government, academic and research networks, forming a "network of networks" that would ultimately become known as the Internet.

????Since then, the U.S. government has played a key oversight role in the distribution of numbers that make up Internet addresses, as well as the Domain Name System (DNS) that translates those numerical addresses into recognizable Internet names like time.com. For more than a decade, the non-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has performed those functions under a contract from the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

????"The DNS is similar to a phone book, where if you know someone's name, you can find their number and place a call," says Laura DeNardis, a professor at American University and the author of The Global War for Internet Governance. "Most people take this for granted because they're not aware of the technical architecture behind the curtain that's needed to keep the Internet going."

????It remains unclear what kind of entity will assume stewardship of the Internet DNS, but the U.S. has made clear that it will "not accept a proposal that replaces the NTIA role with a government-led or an inter-governmental organization solution." That's because the U.S. does not want any single government or coalition of governments, like that represented by the United Nations' International Telecommunications Union (ITU), to exert undue influence over Internet governance.

????"We need to have some kind of centralized coordination of names and numbers, because each name and number has to be globally unique," DeNardis tells TIME. "Someone has to keep track to make sure there's not duplication of addresses. The best case scenario is a balance of power in which multiple stakeholders play a role."