http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050930/ap_on_hi_te/internet_control

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Union insisted Friday that governments and the private sector must share the responsibility of overseeing the Internet, setting the stage for a showdown with the United States on the future of Internet governance.

A senior U.S. official reiterated Thursday that the country wants to remain the Internet's ultimate authority, rejecting calls in a United Nations meeting in Geneva for a U.N. body to take over.

EU spokesman Martin Selmayr said a new cooperation model was important "because the Internet is a global resource."

A stalemate over who should serve as the principal traffic cops for Internet routing and addressing could derail the summit, which aims to ensure a fair sharing of the Internet for the benefit of the whole world.

At issue is who would have ultimate authority over the Internet's master directories, which tell Web browsers and e-mail programs how to direct traffic.

That role has historically gone to the United States, which created the Internet as a Pentagon project and funded much of its early development. The U.S. Commerce Department has delegated much of that responsibility to a U.S.-based private organization with international board members, but Commerce ultimately retains veto power.

Some countries have been frustrated that the United States and European countries that got on the Internet first gobbled up most of the available addresses required for computers to connect, leaving developing nations with a limited supply to share.

Make no mistake, this bid is about control of the Internet, its operations and its content - and it's horrible news for anyone who wants to see the Internet flourish as an engine of technological innovation, economic growth and the free exchange of ideas and information.

The U.S. Government has signaled it will stand by the current system of a business-government partnership to determine the best policies for the Internet.

ICANN may have its faults -- indeed, I have documented some of its flaws on this site -- but right now it looks pretty good compared to what the EU and "Axis of Bureaucracy" are dreaming up for the future of the Internet.

10/3/2005 9:15:37 AM

that shit is ours

we created it

we are keeping control of it

fuck the EU

10/3/2005 10:05:20 AM

hmmm....maybe one day there really will be "internets"

10/3/2005 10:14:02 AM

INTERNETS AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

but really, why should one nation shoulder the burden of teh intArw3b?

[Edited on October 3, 2005 at 10:36 AM. Reason : .]

10/3/2005 10:36:03 AM

i dont think that we are hurting because we control the internet

10/3/2005 10:44:14 AM

We started it.

It will stay with us.

If they want to control it, they can make their own.

10/3/2005 11:43:45 AM

We should be dicks about it and throw some kind of usage fee on traffic coming into those master directories to make them stfu.

If the govt is smart about it, they should create some foreign agencies that are chaired by puppet officials to the US to make it look like we care about the EU's request. I'm sure we have a couple moles somewhere in Europe willing to add to their resume...

10/3/2005 12:14:48 PM

i will glady take on the burden of moving to a nice little swiss village and playing htat puppet role

10/3/2005 12:18:47 PM

I'm torn

On one hand, UN/EU bureaucracy would drown DNS maintenance.

On the other hand, I don't like anyone one Gov't controlling it.

10/3/2005 1:11:31 PM

surely they can fund a large bus of wires in the EU and call it the Euronet

they can link in to the Internet, but can have all the control they want over content on the one they build

10/3/2005 2:28:55 PM

Is this all about domain names?

Governments can control the huge servers and optical data lines that they themselves paid for, but everybody else is free to use whatever software they want to control their hardware. Software can be made to connect one networking software to an other type. Everybody does not have to use the same rules.

10/3/2005 2:46:04 PM

id have to get that Euronet, for the soccer coverage and hot german porn.

10/3/2005 8:42:43 PM

fuck man, we invented it with the help of al gore, and we should keep it.

10/3/2005 8:45:06 PM

the EU cant keep their head out of their ass when it comes to real danger, do you want them handling the internet?

10/4/2005 3:01:20 AM

China knows how to handle the Internet. Europe should take notes.

10/4/2005 3:30:26 AM

if anybody takes more control of the internet, i will destroy them

10/5/2005 2:37:11 PM

Quote :

"On the other hand, I don't like anyone one Gov't controlling it."

you mean, like the UN?

10/5/2005 6:48:40 PM