Esther Dyson, the technology guru and best-selling author who has quietly taken over the new organization responsible for selling the Internet's most popular domain names -- yesterday dismissed conspiracy theories swirling around her secretive group.

``There are such things are coincidences,'' said Dyson, interim chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Numbers and Names.

On October 1, the responsibility for selling top-level domain names -- those ending in .com, .org, .net, .gov and .edu. -- was officially transferred from a U.S. government contractor to ICANN, a worldwide nonprofit group.

During the next few weeks, a series of events had conspiracy theorists working overtime: Jon Postel, a key architect of the plan, died; another key figure behind the scheme, Ira Magaziner, resigned; and a U.S. congressman launched an inquiry into the transfer, which has gone anything but smoothly.

Yesterday, the plot thickened.

Gabe Battista, chief executive of Network Solutions, resigned. Network Solutions is the Virginia company that until last month had an exclusive contract from the U.S. government to sell top-level domain names.  Dyson yesterday said the events are unrelated.

Magaziner, who was President Clinton's high-profile Internet adviser, ``intended to retire for some time and Jon Postel was in poor health. Those were not surprises. To read anything more into it is a stretch,'' she said.

Dyson was surprised to hear that Battista resigned from Network Solutions.

The company's chief financial officer, Robert Korzeniewski, will run day-to-day operations until a full-time replacement is found. In a statement, Battista, 54, said he is joining a Pennsylvania long-distance reseller, Tel-Save.com, as chairman and CEO in January because it represents ``a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity.''

Some take that statement at face value.

``I think it's an instance of very bright individuals pursuing other interests,'' said Jeff Richards, executive director of Internet Alliance, a Washington, D.C., trade organization. ``Listen, this is one of the most exciting and exhausting times for the Net. It is also a burnout phase for some of the leaders. They are going to exit and enter other roles.''

Still, some Internet observers say the events are too improbable not to question.

``The whole situation is curious,'' said Naseem Javed, president of ABC Namebank International, a brand-name consulting company in New York. ``Here we have a plan with huge implications for the Internet, and the major decisions are taking place behind closed doors. And with all that has happened in the last few weeks, this shaky transition is on the verge of collapse.''

Dyson, 47, was elected ICANN chairman at a closed-door meeting in New York late last month. Even though Dyson is one of the most influential women in high tech, and her last book, ``Release 2.0,'' got widespread publicity, her appointment went almost unnoticed in the media.

Dyson said she plans to make ICANN far more open. Critics charged that the transfer of domain-naming power from Network Solutions to ICANN was done with almost no public input. Another complaint is that despite the transfer, Network Solutions is maintaining its exclusive right to sell domain names during the next few months while ICANN gets up to speed.

Dyson expects ICANN to start assigning domain-naming rights in March. Under the new scheme, any company can buy rights to sell domain names.

The ICANN board is comprised of five U.S. representatives from the high-tech and education fields, as well as officials from Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, France and Australia.

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