The Internet Has a New Controlling Authority & It’s Not the U.S

The Government of United States has handed over the control of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (the internet’s address book) to ICANN, an independent international body made up of a number of governments, corporations and individual users.

What is Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)?

The IANA manages the allotment of IP addresses all over the globe. It also delegates five regional Internet registries (RIRs) to allocate IP address blocks to local Internet registries (Internet service providers) and other entities.

In simple terms, the IANA is a database that stores all the domain names on the internet. For example, if you type “propakistani.pk”, the IANA is responsible for directing you to our website.

Who owns the IANA now?

Initially, IANA was established as an informal way to reference to various technical functions for the ARPANET by Jon Postel and Joyce K. Reynolds. They alone were responsible for managing the IANA from 1988 to 1998.

In 1998, the Department of Commerce created ICANN, a nonprofit organization that is responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases. With participants from all over the globe, the organization’s purpose is to keep the Internet secure, stable and interoperable.

After Postel’s death in 1998, they granted ICANN a contract to manage the IANA. ICANN was to get the full ownership of IANA eventually, but the process was bogged down due to politics. Numerous political leaders from the Republican Party, including Ted Cruz, have opposed this move. However, ICANN finally approved a transition plan this year.

On the 1st of October, a judge ruled in favor of the plan, allowing it to move forward. As of this moment, the ICANN is now the official owner of the IANA.

World's First Mind Controlled Car

When automobiles giant like Nissan, Toyota and Tesla are focusing on self-driving smart cars, Chinese researchers have taken the future of automotive car driving technology to the level that's beyond your imaginations.

Chinese researchers have built what they claim is the World's First Mind-Controlled Car — that uses nothing but human’s brain power to drive.

Isn't that sound like a piece of some Sci-Fi movies?

But it's true.

World's First Mind-Controlled Car

The team of researchers from Nankai University, in the north-east port city of Tianjin, has designed a brainsignal-reading headgear instrument that allows a driver to:

• Drive forward
• Drive backwards
• Come to a Stop
• Both Lock and Unlock the vehicle

...all without using his/her hands or feet.

The team has spent almost two years bringing the mind-controlled car to the reality.

How Does the Mind-Controlled Car Work? Watch in Action

Zhang Zhao, one of the project's researchers, told Reuters the headgear equipment comprises of 16 electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors that are used to capture driver's brain signals when worn.

The brain signals will then be transmitted wirelessly to a computer program, which will then translate those signals to the relevant automotive commands and pass the control commands to the car, enabling car control.

The new technology of self-driving cars is aimed at the betterment of human beings. Soon, it might be possible to integrate brain-controlled technology to driverless cars, like the Google Self-Driving Car (SDC).

However, the technology is very much in progress with the researchers at the phase where their unique car, provided by Chinese car manufacturer Great Wall Motor, can only drive in straight direction currently using brain power.

The brain-fuelled automotive technology was initially inspired by the idea to help physically handicapped people who are unable to steer their vehicles.

Besides helping physically disabled people and assisting in checking pollution, the team says its system is also safe from absent-mindedness because concentration in these newer cars is only needed to change vehicle’s moving status, like changing lanes or turning.