The body which oversees the internet may 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 under which it it answerable to the US Department of Commerce, which began delegating the responsibility for running the internet ten years ago.

In its letter, 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's responsibilities include running what is known the 'domain name system' (DNS), 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' - the most important hubs which help route internet traffic and whose locations, for reasons of security, remain secret.

In an interview with Times Online, the chief executive, Paul Twomey, said that ICANN had done significant work to improve its transparency - including the transcription of its board meetings, and that it had also put in place means by which the many groups which support it, including governments, could vote to overturn its decisions.

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, adding there was also scope to disband its board with a two thirds majority vote of its supporting organisations, "a bit like shareholders voting at an AGM". Finally, he said, ICANN's own institutions were subject to review every two years.

His comments went some way towards appeasing ICANN's critics, who have argued that its complex structure - which takes in 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 because, in the words of one academic, "the special interest groups in Washington aren't the best proxy for the public interest."

ICANN is a not-for-profit organisation which looks 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 pressing issues it faces at the moment is the roll out of a new internet protocol, called IPv6, which will ensure that there is enough space on the web to support the growing number of devices that are connected to it.

At present the internet - which has a limited number of 'places' under the existing protocol - is at about 86 per cent capacity, and is due to fill up by 2010 or 2011. Under IPv6, it will expand to accommodate 340 trillion, trillion, trillion — "enough for the foreseeable future," an ICANN representative said.

Also on ICANN's agenda is the introduction of 'international domain names', which will mean that for the first time, internet addresses, can be written in full in other languages. Arabic, Chinese and languages which use the cyrillic alphabet would be the main beneficiaries of the new domain names, Mr Twomey said.

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