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By Eric Engleman - Mon Mar 12 18:05:10 GMT 2012

The organization that manages the Internets address system should strengthen conflict-of-interest rules for its board of directors, the groups chief executive officer said.

It is time to further tighten up the rules that have allowed perceived conflicts to exist within our board, Rod Beckstrom, CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, said at a meeting of the group in Costa Rica today.

This is necessary not just to be responsive to the growing chorus of criticism about Icanns ethics environment but to ensure that absolute dedication to the public good supersedes all other priorities, Beckstrom said, according to excerpts of the speech provided by Icann.

Icann, which manages the Internets domain-name system under a U.S. Commerce Department contract, approved a plan in June to consider hundreds more domains such as .apple and .nyc in a move to spur online innovation. The group began accepting applications for new Web suffixes in January for a three-month window ending April 12.

Public-interest organizations, a national advertisers group and a U.S. senator criticized Icann after its previous chairman, Peter Dengate Thrush, joined a company that plans to invest in new domains less than a month after the board approved the expansion in June.

General Electric Co. (GE), Coca-Cola Co. (KO) and more than 50 other U.S. companies oppose the proposed domain expansion, saying it will increase their costs, confuse customers and fuel Internet fraud.

To contact the reporters on this story: Eric Engleman in Washington at eengleman1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Bernie Kohn at Bkohn2@bloomberg.net.

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Internet Overseer Icann Needs to Tighten Board Conflict Rules, CEO Says