Few Said to Fear U.N. Takeover of Internet

Despite ongoing speculation that the U.N. has plans to take control of Internet governance (WID Nov 17 p2), no such blueprint exists, according to industry sources. Govts. are gearing up for the next meeting of the U.N.’s Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) Feb. 14 in Geneva, but the exercise is more about addressing the grievances of developing nations than fending off a U.N. power grab, said sources familiar with the proceedings.

At issue is ICANN, the quasi-governmental authority responsible for administering the root servers and Internet Protocol addresses that make the Internet function. ICANN’s charter from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce ends in 2006. That fact, coupled with increased Internet interest by the developing world, is driving the U.N.’s efforts, said Frannie Wellings, a fellow with the Electronic Privacy Information Center. “The working group is a healthy process,” she said. “The result will be a better ICANN that is more responsive and open to the participation of society.”

The U.N. working group representatives come primarily from the developing and 3rd world, including, Brazil, India, Singapore, S. Korea and Tunisia, which have complained that ICANN’s numbering policies favor developed nations. This sector has felt left out of the ICANN process and now wants the U.N. to push for broader govt. inclusion in Internet governance, said Markus Kummer, exec. coordinator of the WGIG. “Some countries would rather have seen more classical government involvement,” he said. The group is preparing a report on governance due in early July.

Some parties have suggested a takeover of ICANN by the U.N. or the ITU is being planned. But the likelihood of such a coup is nil, said a senior ITU source. “The chances the U.N. will do anything is zero, and I can’t see the U.S. letting go of the root server,” he said. The root server -- and 12 secondary servers -- control the flow of Internet traffic to all top-level domains, including the Pentagon’s .mil. “The idea of a new super- Internet organization is not realistic,” said Kummer. Rather, he sees the working group as the first step in improving coordination of all the countries involved.

ICANN said its primary role is that of technical manager. “It is vital that the discussion takes into account that the range of Internet governance questions requires a much broader system of practices, agreements and policies than are encompassed in ICANN’s mandate,” wrote ICANN board member Vint Cerf in a recent position paper. “Nor does it seem appropriate to seek to expand that mandate to accommodate areas that should be the province of domestic and international governmental concern.”

Some ICANN supporters question why there’s a governance issue in the first place. “Right now its working pretty well,” said Internet pioneer Robert Kahn: “It’s not broken.” ICANN said it remains respectful of the WGIG process but doesn’t see its mandate changing soon. “From the way we see it, this is a useful exercise,” said an ICANN spokesman. - Randy Barrett