Internet Group to Alter Plan on Web Addresses

WASHINGTON — A leading Internet group said it will modify its plan to increase the available addresses in cyberspace after criticism from leading online service providers and government officials in the U.S. and Europe.

The plan would add seven new top-level domains, the last few letters at the end of every electronic mail or Web site address on the Internet, and establish a new network of companies to register addresses.

At a meeting in Geneva last week, 80 companies and groups endorsed the plan.

But top Internet access services, including America Online Inc. and AT&T; Corp.’s Worldnet service, declined to support the plan for fear it would fragment or destabilize the Internet naming system.

Most names are now registered with Herndon, Va.-based Network Solutions Inc. under an exclusive contract with the National Science Foundation that expires next year.

The Internet Society, which helps develop standards for the global computer network, said late Tuesday it had received “consistent and universal criticism” of the new address registration system.

The initial plan specified that as many as 28 companies around the world would be selected by lottery to register names in the seven new top-level domains.

The plan also established a Policy Oversight Committee to manage the new registration system.

Under the modified approach, still being finished, anyone satisfying certain technical and financial qualifications could become a registration company, the group said.