US remains stubborn over internet control

Found on The Inquirer on Thursday, 29 September 2005
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The US has refused to hand over control of the main computers that control the Internet to the UN.

Ambassador David Gross, the US coordinator for international communications and information policy at the State Department said that the US will not allow the UN to take over the management of the net.

He said that although some countries want that the US thinks that's unacceptable. Gross said that the US had been clear that it was not even going to negotiate on this issue. He had a pop at the EU which is starting to move towards agreeing some sort of compromise saying he was "deeply disappointed" with them.

Some countries were hoping that the US would reach some sort of compromise deal on the Internet, as some countries were getting increasingly concerned about the amount of control the US has. They are also concerned that at a stroke the US government could force ICANN to make any web site it liked unreachable.

Global player, hm? Obviously, the US wants to keep a tight grip on the Internet structure. Instead of asking and begging, the rest of the world should set up rootservers. With the current influence of industries and the move towards more censorship in the US there needs to be an independent root system.