The Specter of UN Control of the Internet

The possibility of a United Nations agency assuming management of the internet will likely be discussed at the World Summit on the Information Society. According to media reports, the question of whether "key decisions about controlling the internet's core systems remain with the US government and a private organisation of technical and business experts" is one the major issues to be addressed at the Summit being held December 10-12 in Geneva. The President of South Africa has been quoted as stating that the issue of administering domain names should be discussed at the meeting "otherwise the world continues to be governed by California law." Media reports indicate that "[m]any of the poorer nations... would like to see the administration of Internet domain name registrations moved...to a multinational organisation such as the United Nations." It was noted that the US and the European Union "staunchly support" the ICANN model of internet administration. Although concerns have been raised about the current administration of the IANA function, turning such administration over to a UN agency would be a major step in the wrong direction. The path for improving the transparency and accountability of domain name administration is through further reforms in ICANN, not by turning management of the global economy's backbone over to one of the world's most notoriously inefficient and unaccountable bureaucracies.