In operational practice, very little will change. The staff who perform the IANA function of managing the DNS Root Zone etc. will continue to do the same job, although those staff will now work in a separate subsidiary of ICANN. One operational change will be NTIA, an agency of the Department of Commerce, will no longer be required to authorize every change to the root zone in advance.

In addition, ICANN the organization will have new accountability measures that will allow the community to challenge decisions it makes. It provides new powers like spilling its Board under certain circumstances.

One of the main drivers to change the current setup is NTIA's role above is seen as undue US government influence in what should be a purely technical operation by many. Over the years some have advocated fundamentally altering how ICANN works (like moving it to the UN) because of the US Government's influence. By transferring the primary oversight role to the multi-stakeholder community (users, business, non-profits, etc.) who have always really driven ICANN's decisions anyway, it is hoped that that criticism will go away and pressure to fundamentally alter how it works will dissipate.