EU: US must cede control over internet

European officials are trying to end what they see as the United State's overriding dominance of the internet.

In what she called "a moment of truth", Viviane Reding, the European Union's information society commissioner, has called on President Obama to open the door for full privatisation of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann).

She has suggested that when Icann's agreement with the US Department of Commerce ends this autumn, a form of governance should be set up comprising representatives from various countries to ensure more accountability.

"The internet still holds breathtaking opportunities for our civilisation from omnipresent access to education and healthcare to better government policies through participative democracy.

"Much of the progress and creativity achieved in recent years has been the fruit of
human ingenuity unleashed by the internet's openness to innovation. But to continue reaping the benefits of the online world, the internet must evolve on a solid and democratic base," she said.

The internet was originally set up as a tool for academic and military use and was funded by the US government. But it has evolved far beyond its original roots and there are concerns over the way Icann is so closely associated with the US government.

Icann is the private, not-for-profit corporation that currently oversees the day-to-day operations of the internet. Founded in 1998, it has been working under an agreement with the US Department of Commerce but this ends on 30 September this year.

Ms Reding said it did not make sense for one nation to control what is now a global communications network. She is urging Barack Obama to set up what she called "a new, more accountable, more transparent, more democratic and more multilateral form of internet governance".

She has proposed the creation of a "G-12" informal governance, which should include two representatives from North America, South America, Europe and Africa, three representatives from Asia and Australia, and the chairman of Icann as a non-voting member.

Brad White of Icann told Computeractive: "We are studying the comments of Ms Reding with great interest and in preparation for what will undoubtedly be a much wider discussion on internet governance during the European Commission’s Information Society meeting in Brussels on Wednesday 7 May, which our CEO will be attending.

"We are encouraged by the fact that she supports the conclusion of the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) later this year since, as our chairman made clear in his correspondence to the US Government last year, 'the JPA contributes to a misperception that the DNS (Domain Name System) is managed and overseen on a daily basis by the US government'.

"The most critical point is that Icann continues to support the multi-stakeholder model as the best way to ensure accountability to all stakeholders, a model in which no particular government, group of governments or entity of any type takes precedence over any other."