A controversial bid to expand the Internet addresses for well beyond the conventional domains such as. With. Org and. Net, made a rare threat from the U.S. government, which may remove a license key organization that administers the functions Internet's core.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) depends on your contract with the U.S. government to coordinate the individual addresses that tell computers where to find each other, and without such coordination the operation of a global network effectively does not happen.
But this month the U.S. government warned that the rules of the nonprofit organization as conflicts of interest were not strict enough and only temporarily extended the contract of Icann-force since the organization was formed in 1998 - rather to renew it, as many in the industry expected.
If the contract of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (Iana) is not provided, the ability of ICANN to implement its expansion program addresses the most radical venture in the history of the organization, would be under threat.
Concerns about conflict of interests arising from the fact that current and former members of the ICANN board could benefit financially from the liberalization of Web addresses, because they have links with organizations that make money by registering new domain names or servicing consulting on whether to expand.
Currently, organizations are restricted to just over 20 top level domains such as. Com, org and. Net, followed by national domains such as. Br for Brazil.
ICANN wants to allow brands, cities and companies wishing to create new Internet businesses have applied themselves to maintain the fields, for example. Apple,. Nyc or. Gay, which would offer them greater control over their web presence and a greater choice names.
"Do not awarding the contract to ICANN Iana amount to demolish it completely," said Philip Corwin, legal director of the Internet Commerce Association, an organization that brings together investors and companies that work with domain names.
"The contract that ICANN needs to have the necessary authority to make this program work," he said.The contract was extended by the U.S. until September.
An entire industry has been built to take the initiative of ICANN. One is the Top Level Domain Holdings, a London listed company created to acquire and operate the new domains. The company's Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush, who was president of Icann when the entity has approved the change. The TLDH has made 40 requests for domains and want to submit more requests for names like. And miami. Music.
Many critics, however, are skeptical about whether ICANN will not meet its goal of increasing competition and innovation. He mentioned that previous experiences with names like. Aero,. And travel. Museum resulted in little used areas.
But convinced or not, hundreds of consumer brands are feeling forced to make requests for their own domains-a costly and complex process, which comes with obligations of active operation of the domain-fearing losing them to rivals if they do not record.
The three-month window for application domains closes on April 12.
Rod Beckstrom, chief executive who is leaving Icann, told Reuters this week that the expansion is going smoothly. "We are continuing the course. There is not a single complaint that is related to the administration of the program."
But in an important meeting of ICANN earlier this month he warned that it was time to tighten its organization rules.
"Icann must act to put the public good and commercial and financial interests in the proper context. How can she do that if all the main leadership of the industry itself is areas that should be coordinated for it independently?"
"Preserving the ability of ICANN to act independently in the public interest, is critical to the future of the Internet and this institution," he said.
