After a clash last week over a report criticizing the fairness and effectiveness of its planned public elections, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has announced it will delay those elections from September 30 to November 1 of this year, Wired reports.

The elections were planned to choose the second nine members of ICANN's eighteen-member board of directors, and will be open for voting by anyone who registers with ICANN and has a valid e-mail address. The first nine members have already been selected by corporations and governments with interest in the Internet.

While election by Internet users has proved popular, a report released by the Center for Democracy and Technology and Common Cause has criticized the methods ICANN planned to use for the election, claiming the process was ineffective and subject to capture by special interests.

In addressing these concerns, ICANN's interim board agreed to delay the election and change the way at least five of the directors will be chosen. Those five will be elected through direct voting, instead of through the election of delegates, who would then choose the directors, Wired reports. Four directors from the interim board will be allowed to stay on until 2001.

The interim board also is addressing a controversy over regional representation on the new board. A resolution passed by the board on Friday says that the five directly elected directors will represent ICANN geographic regions. However, a motion that at least one director be from Africa failed to pass, Wired reports.

ICANN chair Esther Dyson said at the meeting that geographic representation should not be as important as competence, pointing out that the diversity of geography did not mean that the board would end up being diverse, Wired reports.

ICANN -- which is in charge of all Internet domain names, such as "pnnonline.org" -- will meet again in July to vote on the addition of more top-level domains -- the part of an Internet address, such as ".org," that indicates the nature of the organization. Suggestions have included ".biz" for business sites or ".nom" for personal sites. Proposals on the domains and on the protection of trademarked names should be submitted to ICANN before April 20.

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