Icann survives baptism of fire

Icann - the new domain name watchdog - came in for harsh criticism at its first meeting to discuss its future role in the organisation of global domain names such as .com and .net.

Created earlier this year, the organisation was contracted by the US government to oversee the handover of control from the government over to the private sector. It now controls registration of the highly valued .com domain name and therefore has a large degree of power over the Internet.

The meeting was attended by critics from Internet lobbyist groups which say they want to conserve the rights of the global citizen. They complained that it isn't clear how the board members of Icann were appointed and questioned the body's accountability.