A controversial attempt to expand internet addresses far beyond the likes of .com, .org or .net has provoked a rare threat from the US government to withdraw a key license from the body that runs the internet's core functions.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) depends on its US government contract to coordinate the unique addresses that tell computers where to find each other, without which the global internet could not function.
But this month the government warned that the non-profit body's rules against conflicts of interest were not strong enough and only temporarily extended ICANN's contract - which it has held since its formation in 1998 - instead of renewing it as many in the industry had expected.
.
.
http://bit.ly/HbAeN9
