EU fights US for control of the internet

The EU has called for co-operation in the overseeing of the internet addressing systems

The US is facing increasing pressure to let go of its unilateral control over internet governance.

At a preparatory meeting in Geneva for next month's World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, the European Union called for a "co-operation model" for the overseeing of the internet addressing systems, and called for a new forum that would decide public policy.

This marks a distinct change in policy for the UK government, which had up until now supported the US system under which a California-based non-profit company, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), manages the "plumbing" of the internet.

Icann is run at arms' length through the US Department of Commerce, which plans to hand over full responsibility to Icann in September 2006.

Emily Taylor, director of legal and policy at Nominet, believes that co-operation is vital to end the row.

"Amidst calls for international intervention to avoid dominance of the internet by a single state, Nominet believes that we should be looking to take more a pragmatic, incremental approach to internet governance and not seek to completely overhaul a model that allows for flexibility and innovation, and is founded on private sector investment," she said.

"We hear the political debate with regard to the root zone, and our perspective is operational. It should work quickly and be secure and authoritative. Requests for changes must be authenticated and acted on quickly. "

In essence the battle is about who controls and manages the 'root servers' which act as a basic directory for the internet, and who allocates internet addresses.

It is also a source of concern to some countries that the US could technically block address changes requested by those countries.

The announcement by the EU, made by David Hendon, director of business relations at the Department of Trade and Industry, caused something of a deadlock in negotiations, effectively isolating the US against the rest of the world.

At the Geneva meeting the US defended its position insisting that the changes go against the "historic role" played by the US in controlling the top level of the internet.

The discussion now looks set to go before a UN summit of world leaders next month who are expected to rule in favour of the EU proposal.

But the devil will be in the detail, and changes could get mired in discussions over how an intergovernmental body or multi-stakeholder private group might take over the role of Icann.

The US could also try to head off attempts to dismantle Icann by suggesting that such a move could weaken initiatives to reduce online crime.

According to Reuters, the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has offered to step in. ITU chief Yoshio Utsumi said: "We could do it if we were asked to."

But the statement was dismissed by US State Department official David Gross. "We will not agree to the UN taking over management of the internet," he said.

Gross also attacked the EU's change of position, describing its proposals as "a shocking and profound change that involved control by governments, some of [which] already censor what their citizens can have access to on the internet".