he Commerce Department announced yesterday that it would give the group that manages the Internet's address system another year to demonstrate it is up to the task, despite widespread dissatisfaction with the way the organization has handled its responsibilities in the four years it has been under government contract.

Advertisement

In a statement announcing the department's decision to extend its contract with the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, Nancy J. Victory, assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information, acknowledged the department's disappointment with Icann's progress. But she said the one-year extension was justified by the organization's recent efforts to overhaul its structure and processes.

In addition, the agreement to extend Icann's contract through Sept. 30, 2003, outlines specific tasks for the group to accomplish in the next year, including improving the openness of its decision-making process to become more responsive to Internet users and creating an effective advisory role for national governments. The contract also requires Icann to submit quarterly updates to the Commerce Department, beginning Dec. 31, regarding its progress in these and other areas.

Despite widespread frustration with Icann, which was established in 1998 to manage the system that translates domain names like yahoo .com into numbers recognized by the network, the contract extension was not unexpected.

Although a Congressional hearing last spring was told that Icann had various shortcomings — namely inefficiency, lack of accountability and aversion to public participation — Icann's reform efforts in recent months were cited yesterday as a reason for giving the group additional time to prove itself.

Icann is adopting a new structure and has promised to be more open in making decisions on matters like what new domain extensions will join the likes of .com and .org and which companies will be granted contracts to run them.

M. Stuart Lynn, president and chief executive of Icann, said the one-year extension was anticipated, but that the new agreement "puts the focus on what needs to be accomplished in a reasonable amount of time."

"What you see is the D.O.C. wanting to work with us and enlist the help of others to make things happen," Mr. Lynn said. "It's a very different kind of approach from what we've seen previously."

Ms. Victory was traveling on Friday and was unavailable for comment.

Still, buried within the Commerce Department statement explaining the decision is perhaps the most relevant reason for the extension: that "no obvious alternative exists" to giving Icann another year, particularly given the government's continuing commitment to private-sector management of the Internet address system.