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Internet address group names Steve Crocker chair

(AP) -- Steve Crocker, who as a UCLA grad student in the late `60s helped develop the foundation for the Internet today, is the new chairman of the organization responsible for the Internet's address system.

Crocker's appointment came Friday as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers wrapped up weeklong meetings in Singapore. On Monday, ICANN approved new guidelines for Internet addresses, allowing groups and companies to vie for new suffixes such as ".bank" and .eco."

Crocker succeeds Peter Dengate Thrush, who has been chairman since 2007.

Crocker is the second Internet founding father in that role. Vint Cerf served from 2000 to 2007. Both were involved in developing the mechanisms for different computer networks to talk to one another,

Crocker and Cerf are high school classmates.