U.S. Retains Its Grip On Internet Domain Names

[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jessica E. Vascellaro jessica.vascellaro@wsj.com]
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) will continue to approve all proposals for new domain-name extensions, even international ones like .eu for the European Union. While Icann's board includes more than a dozen international members, the U.S. retains the power to veto the board's final decision. Members of the European Union, as well as countries like China and Brazil, had been hoping to wrest oversight of the process from Icann and place it in the hands of an international body. A host of recently approved extensions are hitting the Web and more will follow soon. In December 2003, Icann invited a second round of domain-name applications and activity on the front has been intense. But like the organization that approved them, these extensions have become a lightening rod for criticism. Henry Harteveldt, an analyst at Forrester Research, a market-research firm in Cambridge Mass., says the domains end up lining the pockets of the organizations chartered to administer them, which release new extensions that companies must buy to protect their brands.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113218665459899569.html?mod=todays_us_personal_journal
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* US to keep control of domain names
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2005-11-16T185534Z_01_FOR566192_RTRUKOC_0_US-TUNIS.xml