Whose Internet Is It, Anyway?
Posted by Merrill Baumann
Historically, the Internet has "belonged" to the United States. It traces its origin to a Defense Department project; the authoritative root zone server is physically located here; and ICANN reports to the Department of Commerce. But that doesn't sit well with a growing number of countries and international organizations, including the U.N. and EU. This issue will face an increasingly public battle next month at the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia. And in the US, members of Congress have joined a Senate colleague in introducing legislation that calls for the US to maintain oversight control over the Internet. While creating a broader international management platform is attractive, opponents say that more governmental supervision will lead to increased regulations and bureaucracies that will stifle innovation and further development.
What do you think?
The Internet Governance Project has prepared a paper "Political Oversight" of ICANN: A Briefing for the WSIS Summit. While I have reservations about the approach advocated by this paper, nevertheless, imho, it's worth reading.
http://dcc.syr.edu/miscarticles/Political-Oversight.pdf
Meanwhile, if you're more interested in the real nuts and bolts of "internet governance", then take a look at the proposed settlement between ICANN and Verisign. This proposal is now in a 24-day public comment period, and I'd be interested in hearing the views of lawyers on whether or not this tentative agreement seems to be in the public interest.
http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-24oct05.htm
Thanks for all your work pro bono publica!
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