The International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will continue to oversee the Internet`s domain name system for another three years, the US Department of Commerce said yesterday.
ICANN will be allowed to oversee the management of the Internet`s crucial addressing system, which matches numerical addresses to easy-to-remember names like "www.example.com".
ICANN was set up in 1998 to take control of the domain name system from the US government, but that has yet to happen, as the controversial body has been unable to formalise its authority over several groups that control key parts of the online infrastructure.
The commerce department has temporarily renewed ICANN`s authority several times, over the objections of critics who say it is poorly managed and does not properly take the concerns of the Internet`s 500 million users into account.
In a press release, the department said ICANN had taken important steps to reorganise over the past year, and that the new agreement contained several milestones to ensure the organisation continues to improve.
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