US government 'should take over the net'

The US should take more control of the internet, a US senator has argued.

Conrad Burns, a Montana Republican, has said he will introduce a bill to require the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) to give the US more influence in managing the domain-name system.

If Icann refuses to co-operate, Burns has threatened to strip it of its authority when its contract comes up for renewal in the autumn.

Burns said Icann had exceeded its authority, did not operate in an open fashion and was dangerously unaccountable to internet users, businesses and other key interest groups.

"The US needs to ensure Icann operates with the same sort of internal processes as in any other federal agency," he said.

However, Icann - which is an international body - is already under fire for being too US-dominated, and if the government takes control it could be seen as an effective annexation of the internet.

According to Reuters, Icann president M. Stuart Lynn declined to comment on Burns's proposal, saying he would wait until the bill was actually introduced.

Even now Icann cannot add new "top-level" domains to join the likes of ".com" without the US Commerce department approval, Lynn pointed out.