Washington Post :: U.N. Sets Aside Debate Over Control of Internet
By David McGuire
...United Nations member states this weekend headed off a showdown over who should control the Internet, agreeing to study the issue and reopen it in 2005.
...Leaders had planned to wade into a debate over the way Web site and e-mail addresses are doled out, standards are set for Internet security and the thorny question of how Internet-based transactions are taxed, among other things.
Some developing nations have complained that the world's most visible Internet governance body -- the U.S.-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) -- hasn't adequately represented non-U.S. interests, and should be replaced with a governmental group overseen by the United Nations.
ICANN President Paul Twomey said this weekend's compromise shows that most countries don't want to scrap ICANN. "When you look at the actual outcome, it reflected that a lot of delegations weren't willing to go down that path at all. I think that was a minority opinion," Twomey said. "We're happy also to have two years where we listen to the concerns of governments."
ICANN -- a Marina del Rey, Calif.-based nonprofit -- has managed the Internet's global addressing system since 1998 under an agreement with the U.S. government.
Many U.S. companies -- who actually run much of the Internet's infrastructure -- strongly opposed efforts to move Internet management into government hands, arguing that private-sector groups like ICANN are better suited to respond to the quickly evolving Internet...
K-Collector Topics: email Listening Security