<P> In 1993, the U.S. Department of Commerce, in conjunction with several public and private entities, created InterNIC to maintain a central database that contains all the registered domain names and the associated IP addresses in the U.S. (other countries maintain their own NICs (Network Information Centers)--there's a link below that discusses Canada's system, for example). Network Solutions, a member of InterNIC, was chosen to administer and maintain the growing number of Internet domain names and IP addresses . This central database is copied to Top Level Domain (TLD) servers around the world and creates the primary routing tables used by every computer that connects to the Internet . </P> <P> Each ICANN - accredited registrar must pay a fixed fee of US $4,000 plus a variable fee . The sum of variable registrar fees is intended to total US $3.8 million . The competition created by the shared registration system enables end users to choose from many registrars offering a range of related services at varying prices . </P> <P> Domain registration information is maintained by the domain name registries, which contract with domain registrars to provide registration services to the public . An end user selects a registrar to provide the registration service, and that registrar becomes the designated registrar for the domain chosen by the user . </P> <P> Only the designated registrar may modify or delete information about domain names in a central registry database . It is not unusual for an end user to switch registrars, invoking a domain transfer process between the registrars involved, that is governed by specific domain name transfer policies . </P>

Who is currently responsible for registering domain names and ip addresses