Control of the Internet

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Description:

The internet is managed by a non-profit organization, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which reports to the US Commerce Department. The UN Working Group on Internet Governance is attempting to ease control of ICANN away from the US and place the internet's underlying infrastructure on an intergovernmental basis.

Enablers:

- People are increasingly seeing the value of the Internet
- Anti-US sentiment
- Anti-US unilateralism
- Globalization
- Internet is big business
- Precedence (e.g. UN coordinates global telephone system)
- Fear of US technological strength that could lead to domination

Inhibitors:

- US will fight to keep control
- Some countries (i.e. China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Cuba) could inhibit Internet’s progress due to the internal barriers they have created to Internet usage
- Fast pace of innovation could be jeopardized by the politics and bureaucracy which typify UN agencies
- Poor countries are the ones most against ICANN (and probably have less influence economically and thus politically)
- US control has contributed to development of Internet

Paradigms:

Although the internet is decentralized and hard to control, the infrastructure that ICANN manages represents the few levers that governments have to impose control should they choose to do so. Also at stake is money: registering domain names generates about $1 billion annually and assigning new domains—think .web or .sex—is a power over very lucrative assets. The uncomfortable reality for most countries is that US control of the internet's domain name system and its spread through the private sector has contributed most to the development of the internet. US officials say they “fully support” the UN process. But the country's conspicuous absence from the Working Group on Internet Governance gives it leeway to distance itself from recommendations, or discredit it.

Timing:

1998: ICANN formed

Nov. 23, 2004: First meeting of the UN Working Group on Internet Governance

Nov. 2005: UN Working Group on Internet Governance’s report due

2006: ICANN expected to become completely independent of US government

Web Resources:

UN Press Release on the Working Group on Internet Governance http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/pi1620.doc.htm

World v Web: Controlling the Internet from the Economist http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3407424&subjectID=348963&emailauth=%2527%2528%2540%252E7%255EM%2527ASP%2520%2520%250A

ICANN (Internet Corporate for Assigned Names and Numbers) http://www.icann.org/

World Summit on the Information Society http://www.itu.int/wsis/

Swiss Fudge: Internet Governance from the Economist http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?Story_id=S%27%298%24%24RQ%27%21%20%40%23%5C%0A

Time for UN Intervention?: Internet Regulation from the Economist http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?Story_id=2177567