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U.S. Vs. World in Internet Governance Fight
Americans snub EU proposal for shared control

As discussed, a long list of countries would like to take Internet governance away from "America-centric" ICANN, and hand it to a global body - quite possibly the UN's ITU. Yesterday administration officials repeated that such a hand off to the UN will never happen. "It's not a negotiating issue," says Ambassador David Gross, the U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy at the State Department.

On Wednesday the European Union introduced a new cooperative model for Internet governance. EU spokesman Martin Selmayr stated that "because the Internet is a global resource," oversight of it should be a shared responsibility. He insists the EU "is very firm on this position." Gross meanwhile stated he was "deeply disappointed" in the EU's proposal.

With the United States outnumbered on the issue, expect the the debate to get very hot at November's World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia.

Most recommended from 145 comments



pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium Member
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD

2 recommendations

pnh102

Premium Member

No Big Deal

Let the UN decide that they want to control the Internet, and then let them assemble the armies and raise the money needed to pry that control from our cold, dead hands.

Oh wait a minute, never mind

If the rest of the world doesn't like it, they can go create their own Internet and control it all they like. The last thing we need is for countries like Iran, China, North Korea and Cuba having a say in how the Internet is "governed."