U.S. control of Internet rankles developing nations

AP ^ | December 10, 2003 | Anick Jesdanun

[sarcasm]

GENEVA — Worried over U.S. domination, a group of developing nations wants to put control of the Internet into the hands of the United Nations, an issue that likely will overshadow a summit on information technology opening today.

Key decisions on Internet issues, such as domain names and addresses, now reside in a private agency spun off from the U.S. government — and the United States wants to keep it that way.

But if countries do not think their concerns are adequately heard by the Internet's key decision-makers, a U.N. official warned yesterday, they may create conflicting national policies and even set up their own networks within their borders.

"The medium itself can be fragmented," said Sarbuland Khan, coordinator of the U.N. Task Force on Information and Communications Technologies. That "can make it difficult for the Internet to remain a free and interchangeable medium of exchange."

Another gnawing dispute is over developing-world demands that rich nations bankroll info-tech projects that can bridge the digital divide between rich and poor nations. The discussions over funding and governance, along with media freedom, have taken the spotlight away from the main objective of the summit — gathering support for a multitude of digital-divide projects.

Some 16,000 people signed up to attend, including more than 50 world leaders, mostly from developing countries.

Given the extent of the disagreements, the world's leaders likely will conclude this week's World Summit on the Information Society by essentially ducking the issue and directing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to convene a working group.

That group, to include government, business and civic leaders, would be directed to come up with a proposal for the final phase of the summit, in Tunisia in 2005.

China, South Africa, India and Brazil — the main proponents of wresting control of the Internet from the United States — have offered only vague blueprints for an alternative. Advocates have called for creating a separate treaty-based U.N. agency for Internet governance modeled after the International Telecommunications Union, which organized this week's summit.

Yoshio Utsumi, the union's secretary-general, said yesterday that his agency would be capable of assuming the responsibility, "but it's up to members to decide. At this moment, there is no consensus."

On another issue before the gathering in this city where the World Wide Web was invented 13 years ago, the United States and other industrialized countries have resisted Senegal's calls for a separate pool of money to finance technology projects in poorer nations.

But delegates reached a compromise of sorts yesterday: Countries that want a fund can create one, while skeptics — including the United States, Japan and the European Union — agreed to a study next year. No funding commitments were announced.

The organization that developing nations seek to replace is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers which the U.S. government selected in 1998 to oversee the Internet's core addressing systems.

Differences over the organization have gotten so intense that on Friday, its Chief Executive Paul Twomey found himself escorted out of a meeting room where negotiators were discussing his organization's fate.

Although the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers still answers to the U.S. Commerce Department, Twomey said the organization has tried to represent global needs by opening offices abroad and having board members from other countries. Twomey is Australian.

But the organization still is largely seen as a U.S. body.

Hans Klein, chairman of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, said governments are legitimately worried that the U.S. government can suddenly impose policies contrary to their interests. For instance, Klein said, the United States might remove from central databases the domain names for countries deemed sponsors of terrorism, essentially kicking them offline.

Developing countries also have been frustrated that Western countries that got on the Internet first gobbled up most of the available addresses required for computers to connect, leaving developing nations to share a limited supply.

And some countries want faster approval of domain names in non-English characters — China even threatened a few years ago to split the Internet in two and set up its own naming system for Chinese.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

...China, South Africa, India and Brazil — the main proponents of wresting control of the Internet from the United States....

He he he.

The thought of people freely exchanging information really sticks in some Leftist craws, doesn't it?

[Hank Rearden]

Well, the Turd World can go invent their own wood-fired version of the Internet, and compete.

Let's see how well it stacks up against the USA-invented version.

[Mo1]

For instance, Klein said, the United States might remove from central databases the domain names for countries deemed sponsors of terrorism, essentially kicking them offline.

He is worried about Terrorists???

[Fledermaus]

If they don't like it - they can invent their own computer networks. We can easily keep them out of ours.

Our way of life is dead. It's become clear the lazy, idiotic, unintelligent, morons of the planet just want what the smarter ones produce without lifting a finger.

Atlas is getting ready to shrug....big time!

[AntiGuv]

...and even set up their own networks within their borders.

An excellent idea! They should do just that and see if it works out for them better than it did for France in the Nineties.

[ECM]

France tried this? Enlighten me, if you have a moment...

[sarcasm]

Minitel

[Broadside Joe]

"Another gnawing dispute is over developing-world DEMANDS that rich nations BANKROLL info-tech projects that can bridge the digital divide between rich and poor nations."


Waaaaah I want and you pay for it.

On another issue before the gathering in this city where the World Wide Web was invented 13 years ago, (BY THE UNITED STATES)the United States and other industrialized countries have resisted Senegal's calls for a separate pool of money to finance technology projects in poorer nations.

Hey I want a wireless network at home, but I want you to pay for it...deal?

[tet68]

How you coming on Applebaum, I'm reading that too.

[fqued]

Actually, the USA does NOT control the internet.
the US government has little say in the internet.

There is ONE company in California which assigns domain names. A very small, almost microscopic amount of control

Essentially the rest of the internet is "controlled" by you, me, FR, and ten billion other companies, groups, individuals, organizations, etc.

Sooooo, what are these nations REALLY after? Do they want to take totalitarian control of the internet in order to stifle FREE expression, free enterprise, etc?

Seriously, the only real problem with the internet is that it is essentially un-policed. You can say, do, post what you want with very little government oversight.

[general_re]

Developing countries also have been frustrated that Western countries that got on the Internet first gobbled up most of the available addresses required for computers to connect, leaving developing nations to share a limited supply.

Errr, well, IPv6 fixes that problem, but why support that when you can try to hijack the whole 'net, I guess...

[LadyDoc]

Anyway, I don't know why everybody's being so patriotic about it, it's probably better for a worldwide medium to be fairly administered worldwide.

hint hint: China censors their internet...

THEY claim to be worried the US will "censor" countries that sponsor terrorism...(sounds good to me)...but the countries trying to take over the internet are leftists. China would censor us under a "hate speech" site, or (in FR's religious forum) under their "unauthorized sects" law...

[CasearianDaoist]

Berbers-lee created a html server and. This is essentially an application protocol that sits on top of the TCP/IP stack. The Inbternet existed long before HTML and as far as intellectual property goes it is almost wholly an American invention. HTML is a miniscule part of the internet. Also. the real profitable usage of the internet, robost, N-tiered transactional systems are mostly an american contribution to the web, albiet a mostly commercial contribution.

[The Wizard]

to damn bad

[CasearianDaoist]

sorry, I did not meam to say intelectual property in a legal sense. I meant that it was an Anerican creation.

[general_re]

You realise you just said that it's ok for right-wing America to censor the net but not left-wing anybody else.

Errr, maybe it's just me, but I don't see where the 'doc said, suggested, or implied any such thing...