ICANN suggests changing the current home network name 192.168.xx to .internal. It is waiting for public reaction before taking action.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has put forward a proposal to simplify the home network name. Users must now enter 192.168.xx to access their router or other devices on the local network. A domain will be added soon that points to the IP address in a simpler way.

Some router manufacturers are already addressing this complexity by developing their own alternatives (e.g. dlink for D-Link routers). ICANN wants to replace things like this with “.internal” to prevent private domain names from colliding with other domain names in the top level domain.

Conflict between networks

By mapping a domain for 192.168.xx over .internal, users can optimize their home’s internal network much more easily. However, this simplification is not the main reason for the change. ICANN’s Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) wants to use the new .internal string to prevent private domain names from colliding with other domain names and having to be rejected by DNS servers.

ICANN had a total of 35 strings on the table, two of which emerged as candidates: .internal and .private. However, the latter didn’t make it because the organization felt it could take the unintentional attribution of privacy to the next level. How and whether this .internal domain will work will become apparent in the next few weeks. There is no intention to move the local IP address to the trash.