U.S. will extend Internet agreement

Otherwise, he said, ICANN risks becoming irrelevant, and its duties could be taken over by another organization entirely, potentially letting the world's governments meddle even more with the Internet.

In recent years, many countries frustrated with U.S. control of a global resource have called for a takeover by an international body like the United Nations, but the United States resisted and during a U.N. summit in November won an endorsement from world leaders for keeping control.

Instead, the United States agreed to join in a newly created international forum to discuss matters ICANN wouldn't normally handle. That forum is scheduled to convene in Athens Oct. 30 to Nov. 2.

Kneuer told a Senate Commerce subcommittee Wednesday that stakeholders who had submitted comments on the government's agreement with ICANN generally favored the Commerce Department's continued involvement but wanted "a more specific focus on transparency and accountability in ICANN's internal procedures and decision-making processes."

Christine Jones, general counsel for domain registration company GoDaddy.com Inc., recommended the pact's renewal with a roadmap for ICANN "to regain the confidence of the community it serves."

She complained to the Senate panel that ICANN's recent decision to extend a contract with VeriSign Inc. to manage ".com" and ".net" names came without enough input from the Internet community.

Other critics have complained that many decisions take place behind closed doors, with minutes from meetings often late and incomplete.

Twomey defended the extent to which ICANN discloses its dealings but acknowledged the available materials are "not easy to understand." He said one of ICANN's top priorities will be to make such issues and decisions easier for participants to digest.

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