ICANN the body which oversees the internet is taking steps to become independent from the US Government for the first time, paving the way for one of the world's most important resources to be run by the private sector.

ICANN has written to the US Government asking to be released from an agreement which currently makes them answerable to the US Department of Commerce, which began delegating the responsibility for running the internet ten years ago.

In the letter written to the US government, ICANN said that it had addressed the concerns of the Government in handing over the reigns to the internet - notably that it has put in place means of being accountable to parties with an interest in the internet, including other governments, and that the process should now be completed.

ICANN is responsible for running and maintaining the ‘Domain Name system' (DNS), this is the vast collection of internet addresses which enables devices that are connected to the internet, such as home computers, to communicate with another.

It also helps administer the world's 13 'root servers' – these are the most important hubs which help to route internet traffic.

The chief executive of ICANN has done significant work to improve transparency for example the transcription of its board meetings, and the company has also put in place a system were the groups that support it, including governments, could vote to overturn any decisions made.

He said that many other goals of the agreement which touched on the early problems that faced the internet - for instance resolving cybersquatting cases - had also been met.

ICANN was now legally accountable under US law, Mr Twomey said, there was also a possibility of disbanding its board with a two thirds majority vote of its supporting organisations, Finally, he said, ICANN's own institutions were subject to review every two years.

His comments went some way towards putting ICANN's critics at ease, who strongly believe that the organisations complex structure - which involves a number of support organisations, including the 130-member intergovernmental panel - makes it difficult to apply to have decisions reviewed.

Dr Milton Mueller, a partner in the Internet Governance Project, a group of academics specialising in internet governance issues, said: "Compared with other international organisations ICANN is very transparent, but at times it still feels a bit more like a private club, with not enough checks and balances. This new 'no confidence vote' procedure is definitely the direction they need to move in."

Most observers are in agreement that it's a good move for the US Government to step away from ICANN.

ICANN is a non profit organisation which is responsible for looking after several of the critical aspects of the DNS, including so-called 'top level domains' - suffixes such as .com and .org that are at the end of every internet address, and country codes such as .co.uk, which have a similar role.

One of the most challenging issues it faces at the moment is the implementation of a new internet protocol, called IPv6, which has been designed to ensure that there is enough space on the web to support the growing number of devices that are connected to it.

As it stands today the internet is limited to the number of spaces under the existing protocol which is at about 86 per cent capacity, and is predicted to reach maximum capacity by 2010 or 2011. Under IPv6, the amount of spaces available will expand to accommodate 340 trillion, trillion, which is more than enough for the foreseeable future.

Also on the ICANN agenda is to introduce 'international Domain Names ', which will mean that for the first time, internet addresses, can be written in full in other languages. For example Arabic, Chinese and languages which use the cyrillic alphabet.