Washington rejects U.N. Net oversight

The U.S. has rejected calls by European Union officials to take over administration of the Internet.

Washington has traditionally controlled Internet administration, since much of the Internet was originally developed by U.S. The EU has backed proposals to move control of many administrative aspects of the Internet to a multinational body.

The EU move came during prepratory meetings for the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia this November, where the topic is scheduled to be discussed.

But the proposal is "unacceptable," David Gross, the coordinator for international communications and information policy at the U.S. State Department, told reporters this week.

Blog community response:

"Let's see if I've got this straight. Keep the Internet under the control of the U.S., which has given the world almost all of the technological advancements that people on this planet take for granted. Or, turn it over to an organization that gave us the oil-for-food scandal? The choice couldn't be more clear."
--Business Intelligence Watch

"ICANN may have its problems, but it is good for the net. It's a much better model than the UN alternative. Let's hope it stays that way!"
--The 463: Inside Tech Policy

"What has caused the Internet governance fight to boil over is anger about America's foreign policy, especially Iraq. That's a shame. Yet it's a reality we must acknowledge. The Internet is less and less removed from the physical world. Internet politics can't be seen in isolation from geopolitics. That's the difficult reality."
--Werblog

"Here's what we would have to fear. ICANN would disappear. Domain name registration fees would skyrocket to subsidize connectivity in the less developed countries. Undemocratic countries will impose censorship on the worldwide Internet."
--The Next Net