CNET
Capping a highly politicized debate, the US government on Saturday let go of its remaining grip on the internet, handing control of the net's address book to a nonprofit.
Saying free speech in the virtual realm was at stake, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and others had tried to block the transfer. But a federal judge denied on Friday their request for an injunction and the scheduled handoff took place at midnight.
The transfer involved the internet's domain name system, or DNS, which translates the Web addresses you type into your browser, like "cnet.com," into the numerical language that net-connected computers use to communicate.