Domain Registration Related News
Who Will Control Internet Infrastructure
October 2005
As the third preparatory meeting (Prepcom III) for the U.N.'s
upcoming summit about the Internet and its infrastructure came to an
end, a dispute erupted over whether the management of the Internet's
names, numbers and protocols should be controlled by one nation or by
a multinational structure.
Brazil, China, India and several other countries insist on a change
from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN),
the entity created by the U.S. government. The U.S. government insists
on continued control of ICANN, which operates under the charity laws
of California.
Many governments believe that this is not an appropriate entity to
protect those who depend on the Internet for their economic, political
and social needs around the world. The stage is set for a difficult
round of negotiations to determine if an agreement can be reached to
resolve this dispute in time for the 2nd World Summit on Information
Society (WSIS) to be held by the U.N. in Tunis, Nov. 16 to Nov. 18.
A representative to the U.N.'s planning meeting for the Tunis Summit,
Motlhatlhedi Motlhatlhedi, who is Botswana's deputy permanent
secretary in the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology,
described how several developing countries support a multinational
body to be in charge of the administration of the Internet's
infrastructure, rather than only the U.S. government.
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