As reported in an article in The New York Times, 'Nations Chafe at U.S. Influence Over the Internet,' ICANN president, Paul Twomey, was excluded from a prepatory meeting for the United Nations' World Summit on the Information Society.
Jennifer L. Schenker, of the International Herald Tribune, states "Icann and the United States government are expected to come under heavy fire at the conference, which begins Wednesday in Geneva and will be one of the largest gatherings of high-level government officials, business leaders and nonprofit organizations to discuss the Internet's future. An important point of debate will be whether the Internet should be overseen by the United Nations instead of American groups like Icann."
According to this article, the role of governmental agencies in the future of the Internet will be the core discussion at this conference. Although Icann and the US Government will be conspicuous by their absence at this meeting, Nicholas Negroponte, Esther Dyson and Tim Berners-Lee, are expected to attend. As are representatives from a number of US based companies, including AOL, Microsoft, The Boeing Company, Siemens AG, Alcatel and Vodafone.
K-Collector Topics: AOL Microsoft New York Times ICANN United Nations