Media News - Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Directing traffic in cyberspace

In a paper released Wednesday titled "Internet governance: the next steps", the Commission proposed that ICANN, the traffic cop directing the Internet, should be managed by private bodies “within principles agreed upon by public authorities but without government interference in day-to-day operations.” Over the past 40 years, the Internet has evolved with only one cop directing all the traffic – the California-based organisation called ICANN. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers – a non-profit body that oversees the routing and address system in cyberspace, operates under contract with the US government. Although ICANN is a private organisation with international board members, it ultimately answers to Washington. The Commission has repeatedly called for more international supervision of the Internet, arguing that no single country should have authority over such a vital part of the global economy. It recently renewed its appeal, noting that ICANN’s contract with the US government expires in September. ICANN is approaching a “historic point”, information society commissioner Viviane Reding said. She questioned whether it would become a “fully independent organisation, accountable to the global internet community.” One area of controversy includes the control of country-code domain names like .uk, .fr and .eu. (European Commission)

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