The US government has renewed its contract with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) until 2011, maintaining the organisation's pre-eminent position as the internet's oversight body.

The deal, which runs from 1 October this year, will come up for review every year and shows the US government is still keen to keep its eye on the running of the internet.

Under the terms of the contract Icann will continue to perform the function of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (Iana). Icann said its responsibilities include oversight of Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, the generic and country code top-level domain name system, as well as root server system management functions.

In a statement, Icann president Paul Twomey said, "[The renewed contract] means that Icann remains the organisation responsible for a range of functions that are vital to the daily operation of the Domain Name System (DNS) and hence the internet – this is a tribute to the staff who worked so hard to perform this important task."

Emily Taylor, head of legal and policy at .uk registry Nominet, said that the announcement came as no surprise to those in the industry and very little is likely to change in the day-to-day running of the net as a result, although Icann recently announced it would begin automating the process for country-code top level domains to administer changes themselves.

"Ultimately this process will pave the way for more decentralised decision-making – it's very much a healthy step," she argued. "But the announcement at the end of September is the big one, when the US government role in overseeing Icann [will be reviewed]."