Rod Beckstrom, the former U.S. cybersecurity chief who resigned in March amid persistent turf battles, is the leading candidate to run an international organization with oversight of the monikers behind every Web site and e-mail address, The Associated Press has learned.
Beckstrom’s approval as chief executive of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers could come with a board vote Friday as ICANN caps weeklong meetings in Sydney, Australia, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. They spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement has yet to be made, and negotiations could still fall through.
Beckstrom has been attending some public sessions and meeting privately with board members this week.
If approved, he would replace Paul Twomey, ICANN’s third and longest-serving chief executive. Twomey, an Australian who became CEO in March 2003, plans to stay with the organization until the end of the year to help with the transition.
The U.S. government, which funded much of the Internet’s early development, selected ICANN in 1998 to oversee policies on domain names — the “.com” and other suffixes that define zones on the Internet.
The Marina del Rey, Calif.-based nonprofit organization is in the midst of revamping procedures for adding domain name suffixes, a move likely to spawn hundreds or thousands of new Internet addresses in the coming years.
ICANN had wanted to start taking applications for new names early this year, but that timetable proved too ambitious as objections were raised over such issues as whether trademark owners could wind up having to buy thousands of new domain names simply to protect their intellectual-property rights.
A launch next year is more likely, under the new chief’s tenure.
ICANN also is close to allowing entire Internet addresses to be in languages besides English for the first time. That could begin as early as year’s end.
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