The U.S. should give way to an independent global entity when it comes to assigning Internet addresses, according to a top European Union official. Vivian Reding, the EU’s commissioner for information society and media,
She went on to say, “the current arrangement, in which the U.S. Commerce Department runs the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), was not defensible.”
“I believe that the U.S., so far, has done this in a reasonable manner,” said Reding, of Luxembourg. “However, I also believe that the Clinton administration’s decision to progressively privatize the Internet’s domain name and addressing system is the right one. In the long run, it is not defensible that the government department of only one country has oversight of an Internet function which is used by hundreds of millions of people in countries all over the world.”
The Commerce Department’s current arrangement with ICANN is set to expire in September.
Reding, delivering her weekly address Sunday, said ICANN should be monitored by an independent legal authority, with a 12-nation group to oversee that new entity.
She favors three representatives from Asia and Australia, and two from North America, South America, Europe and Africa, plus a non-voting member from ICANN.
“I trust that President Obama will have the courage, the wisdom and the respect for the global nature of the Internet to pave the way in September for a new, more accountable, more transparent, more democratic and more multilateral form of Internet governance, the time to act is now.”
The EC is hosting a meeting Wednesday to discuss these suggestions in Brussels. The invitation-only hearing will discuss Internet governance arrangements.
“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 a meeting of the European Commission’s Information Society in Brussels on Wednesday,” said Brad White, ICANN’s director of media affairs. “In general, ICANN continues to support the multi-stakeholder model as the best way to ensure accountability to all stakeholders, a model in which no particular actor or segment takes precedence over any other.”
This is one of the predictions we made late last year.
I thought at the time, and still believe, that President Obama will cave in on this issue, and by the end of the year, for better or worse, ICANN will no longer be exclusively under US control.
What do you think a 12 member gov’t committee will do?
They will figure out how they can get a piece of the action.
Since, the U.S. gov’t (U.S. citizens) paid for the creation of the internet, maybe we should get a royalty payment on every domain?
I can not think of one sincere reason for the U.S. gov’t releasing control of Icann.
I can think of 10 reasons why they shouldn’t.
Domain
Not saying your wrong, but I am predicting that in this new time and age where America is going to be a participant in the world, rather than a leader, Obama is going to give up control.
I was initially against the UN and other international bodies possibly overseeing the DNS. After wasting many hours of precious time tracking and challenging ICANN’s looming perils, I feel differently now.
I believe the time has come to change the status quo. I would love to see a new international body formed that is better equipped to behave impartially, able to consistently honor common business principles, and which can effectively incorporate the input of the larger internet community.
I agree wholeheartedly with Domian Investor’s opinion above.
I would also add that you would see all kinds of taxes coming. Like the $10 a domain fee to “stamp out world hunger”, or “to stop pedophiles”, etc…..
I can see it already…… a total power struggle with countless suggestions and revisions and directions every country will want to take it.
It would be worse than a mess……it would be an utter catastrophe.
Phooey on the EU.
Let ’em launch their own “Internet” if they don’t like us running the show.
Good luck w/that.
Although I also agree with Steve, the realist in me recognizes that even if the US doesn’t lose/give up control of ICANN this year it is essentially inevitable to happen at some point in time. For better or worse was a good way to put it Mike.
In the case of for better, Perhaps if oversight is handled by this 12 member committe they will step in and regulate on this new tld process as it seems like so far that train seems unstoppable.
I don’t think you should have to pay a royalty payment on every domain, just because it was American’s who invented the internet. If we used that rational on other inventions, we would have to give a ton of money to China for all the inventions, their people came up with.
The world telephone system is run by the international telecommunications union (part of the UN). The world postal service is also run by part of the UN.
The internet is also a world-wide communications network, so in fairness, it should be run jointly in the interests of all countries. For historical reasons ICANN has been based in the US, but in future, there is no reason why the US government should run it.
The above posts just remind me how narrow-minded Americans can be.
@Martin, I wouldn’t call my thinking narrow minded. Why would I want to give up the golden goose? I realize it is inevitable to happen anyway. I hope the change is for the better for me, and everyone else. Time will tell.
As you may know, Metcalfe’s law states that the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system (n2). At this point, it is technologically possible for different regions of the planet to develope their own “regional Internets”, but it wouldn’t be as valuable to any of these regions as the global network we count on today. US citizens have a lot to lose if Internet were to split becuase of lack of agreement at the governance level.
Internet as we know it is inherently global and its value is linked to this nature. If the US refuses to accept that other countries are claiming more accountability and liability of ICANN, Internet would be moving backwards.
Those who take pleasure in advising Europeans to “get their own Internet” should be aware of what’s at stake and how much “thier US Internet” would lose in terms of potential and value; also, be sure that it is not technological challenging to do so for the Europeans.