Senators Say U.S. Should Keep Tabs on Internet Body
U.S. lawmakers said on Wednesday that they would step up oversight of the nonprofit group that oversees the Internet's domain-name system, but stopped short of saying the United States should run the controversial body.

ICANN has been a magnet for controversy since it was created in 1998 to assume control of the domain-name system from the U.S. government. Domain-name businesses complain that ICANN moves too slowly and imposes too many restrictions, while grass-roots ``cyber-citizens'' complain that their voices are not heard. Charges that the nonprofit organization operates in an opaque and arbitrary manner come from all quarters.

ICANN has not yet won full control of the domain-name system because it has not met a number of requirements laid out in the original contract, such as establishing formal agreements with volunteers who run much of the system.

A congressional investigator told the Senate that ICANN was unlikely to meet those requirements any time soon, and said the Commerce Department needed to assert a firmer hand.

Subcommittee Chairman Ron Wyden agreed with the assessment.

``If ICANN is going to reform itself, the Department of Commerce is going to have to push that organization harder than they have done in the past,'' the Oregon Democrat said.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-tech-icann.html