On the Line: The Internets Future

On the line: the internet's future

Ownership: World leaders meet today to discuss regulation; US fighting to regain control of global network. Censorship: State power increasingly used to limit access; Dissenters beaten outside summit site

By Daniel Howden

Published: 16 November 2005


Over the next three days a United Nations summit, in the unlikely setting of Tunisia, will attempt to thrash out the future of the internet. More than 40 world leaders, including Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, are set to attend, and the ownership of the World Wide Web itself is at stake. What the delegates won't discuss is the creeping spectre of censorship.

What began as a military research project at the Pentagon has exploded into the most powerful network in the world and an entity upon which the global economy increasingly relies. Its future character is now in question.

At present, the closest the internet has to a governing body is an obscure American, non-profit corporation called Icann. This quasi-independent body has, for years, quietly regulated domain names and allocated addresses. But its lease is nearly up. And the world's rich and powerful will join battle for control of what they see as a gold mine.

The Bush administration wants Icann turned into a private corporation, on US soil and subject to US controls. Much of the rest of the world objects to that but the loudest opponents are countries with a history of censorship and repression, such as China and Iran. The likely balance of power in that struggle rests with the European Union, whose position is not clear.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article327341.ece

I don't think we should allow just one country total control. Nor should it be put is the hands of a 'private' US Corp. This power grab by the US can not be allowed.

The little planet symbolizing communications went into apparent Rx motion on Sunday night, and will appear to keep backpedaling until Dec. 3.

As the solons of OLDE would say, this classic Mercurial omen bodes ill for any internet agreements reached at this time. They are unlikely to hold for long.

"Ad astra per aspera."