Exclusive: EU/US internet governance row heats up

The representatives were asked to leave on more than one occasion

Private sector parties, including Nominet and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), were asked to leave the room during a debate over the future of the internet in Geneva last week, sources attending the event have revealed to vnunet.com.

The representatives were asked to leave on more than one occasion, and at times their comments, which are only allowed during the last five minutes of any debate, were drowned out by the stamping fists of government representatives.

The event was noteworthy because the European Union took a strong line against the US maintaining its control of internet management through Icann.

Nominet, the .uk domain registry, appears somewhat at odds with government policy by standing alongside Icann in seeking to protect the status quo.

But Emily Taylor, director of legal and policy at Nominet, insisted that their differences have been misrepresented.

"Yes we are supporting Icann and want to see it maintained and developed further, but this is not at odds with the EU statement," she said.

"If you read it carefully you will find that it calls for incremental improvement. I think they are trying to find a middle way.

"The problem is that a number of EU states want greater control. This proposal was applauded by Iran and China and provoked a sharp reaction from the US.

"That is the worst situation partly caused by the fact that the talks cover such a broad range of issues, taking in root addressing, spam, content control and even network development in developing countries."

The meeting failed to reach a consensus, and it is now expected that an eleventh hour pre-World Summit meeting will take place in Tunis a few days before the meeting itself.

Former Swedish president Carl Bildt, writing in the Herald Tribune yesterday, waded into the debate by strongly criticising the EU position.

"There is time for Europe to reconsider," he said. "I refuse to believe that EC president José Manuel Barroso and UK prime minister Tony Blair know what has been done in their name."

The Geneva Prepcon 3 meeting was a preparatory meeting for next month's World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis.

The EU has called for a new "co-operation model" for the overseeing of the internet addressing systems, and a new forum that would decide public policy.