The Obama administration has announced the U.S. will give up the administering of domain names and web addresses on the Internet. A new regulatory body will be created to exert formal control. Fadi Chehadé of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers welcomed the move.

Fadi Chehadé: “This is a moment of triumph. This is a moment where the multistakeholder model shows that it is mature and ready and we no longer need the stewardship of one government. We now need the world’s stewardship to come and ensure that our functions are performed as requested by the global community.”

The U.S. has faced calls to relinquish its control of Internet addresses in the wake of the revelations over extensive NSA spying.