Organisations that look after the top level domains such as .uk and .de are asking Icann to give guarantees about root server stability, given that billions of dollars of e-commerce now depend on the safe running of these key servers.

BBC: Net's servers under scrutiny

The six groups are: organizations that register country-code top level domains (such as .de, .uk or .jp, ), those that register generic top level domains (such as .com, .org and .net), commercial and business entities, intellectual property interests, Internet service providers and other providers of Internet connectivity, and registrars (the companies that register the names under which individuals or corporations wish to be known on the Web, such as www.greeneurope.org or www.ibm.com.).

CNN: Group created to help ICANN manage the Internet

ICANN-sanctioned domains like .com or .uk (for Britain).

ECONOMIST: No one controls the internet, but many are determined to try

And other companies, such as CentralNic, are trying to add domains by getting more out of the existing system and offering names like uk.com and us.com.

BBC: Fighting over internet names