United States Says No U.N. Body Should Control Internet

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

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From: GLIGOR1 () aol com
Date: October 27, 2005 1:54:15 PM EDT
To: vint () google com, dfarber () cs cmu edu, mslynn () mac com,  
Dennis.Jennings () ucd ie, fuchs () mellon org, kmk7 () cornell edu,  
lhl () cs wisc edu
Subject: United States Says No U.N. Body Should Control Internet


United States Says No U.N. Body Should Control Internet

(Ambassador Gross to discuss WSIS summit during Internet chat  
November 2)
(1000)
By Tim Receveur
Washington File Staff Writer

  Washington – The United States says that transferring control of the
Internet to the United Nations would stifle innovation with excessive
bureaucracy and may help repressive regimes curtail free expression
online.

  In a November 2 Internet chat, Ambassador David Gross, U.S.  
coordinator
for international communications and information policy, will preview an
upcoming summit on Internet governance and discuss his views on why the
very nature of the Internet as an innovative and dynamic medium is at
stake.

  The United Nations-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society
(WSIS) will convene on November 16-18 in Tunis, Tunisia, to discuss the
future of Internet governance and ways to bring the benefits of  
technology
to the developing world.

  The Internet has become “an extraordinary mechanism for freedom of
expression. Each year, publications are available on the Internet;  
people
are able to directly communicate with them, with each other, through the
Internet,” Gross said at a roundtable with journalists in Washington
October 6.

  The current system of Internet governance “is extraordinarily
participatory,” he said.   “Not just by other governments, which all of
whom already played an important role in this, but also by what's called
civil society, by private enterprise, by a whole host of actors, by
technical people, academics and the like,” Goss said. (See related  
article
(http://usinfo.state.gov/eur/Archive/2005/Oct/06-182731.html) and
transcript (http://www.state.gov/e/eb/rls/rm/2005/54794.htm).)

  The U.S. government has maintained a consistent hands-off approach  
that
has allowed the Internet to grow and develop without substantial
restrictions.

  Since 1998, a nonprofit organization named ICANN -- Internet  
Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers -- has been responsible for managing and
coordinating the Internet's domain names. Its president directs an
international staff, working from three continents, who ensure that  
ICANN
meets its operational commitment to the Internet community.

  FEARS BUREAUCRATIC CONTROL WOULD STIFLE INNOVATION

  Gross expressed concern over some other countries’ proposals for  
sharing
or ceding private sector oversight of the Internet -- including what  
ICANN
now does -- to the United Nations.

  A recent European Union proposal, for example, outlined a new  
framework
for international cooperation that would see the creation of a new,
multi-stakeholder “forum” to develop public policy, and international
government involvement in allocation of Internet Provider (IP)  
addressing
systems.

  “As we read the EU proposal, there will be a group of bureaucrats  
from
countries around the world that will be able to restrict the innovation
that the technical people in Italy, for example, currently bring to the
Internet and their ability to be able to continue to innovate,” Gross
said.  “We would like to see people -- whether it's in Italy, Russia,
United States, around the world -- be free to continue to innovate  
and not
have to seek permission or make sure that they structure what they do  
in a
way that meets some predetermined outcome set by a bunch of  
international
government bureaucrats.

  “What the EU seems to propose is a top-down bureaucratic structure  
that
was the way of the last century and that seems to us to be
counterproductive because it stifles innovation, it stifles the very  
thing
that's made the Internet as successful as it is,” he said.

  He also noted that Cuba, Iran and China, among others, expressed  
support
for the EU's proposal, which was made at a preparatory conference
(PrepCom-3) for the Tunis summit in September. “These are not, I submit,
the types of people who necessarily see eye to eye with us in terms  
of the
importance of the growth and the participatory nature of the Internet,”
Gross said.

  PrepCom-3 failed to reach agreement on a number of contentious  
issues,
and the United States is working with other governments, private
enterprise and nongovernmental organizations to craft an agreement that
will bridge diverse positions on how, by whom and to what degree the
Internet should be governed or regulated.

  “We see the way in which the Internet has worked so far, and we  
support
its continuing evolution. What we don't want to see is an
intergovernmental group coming in to stifle that,” Gross said.

  He noted that the preparatory meeting will resume for three days  
on the
eve of the WSIS summit in Tunis.  “Between now and then, we are already
and we'll continue to be very actively engaged in bilateral discussions,
not only with governments but with other groups -- industry, civil  
society
and the like. And, you know, we are very hopeful that when the world
leaders gather in Tunis in November, that they will have a document to
endorse that we can all be proud of,” he said.

  During the live Internet chat on November 2, Gross will be  
available to
answer questions about the upcoming WSIS summit in Tunis and the U.S.
position on various issues relating to Internet governance. The chat  
will
be held at 11:00 a.m. EST (1600 GMT).

  To ask a question or make a comment, please register at
iipchat () state gov (mailto:iipchat () state gov).  If you already have
participated in one of our previous discussions, there is no need to
register again.  Just use the same user name and password.  We neither
require nor encourage the use of full names.  You may identify  
yourself by
the user name of your choice.

  As always, your questions and comments are welcome in advance of the
program and at any time during it.

  Additional information (http://www.state.gov/e/eb/cip/wsis2005/)  
on the
World Summit on the Information Society is available on see the State
Department, including the U.S. government’s comments
(http://www.state.gov/e/eb/rls/othr/2005/51063.htm) on Internet  
governance
in response to the report of the United Nations Working Group on  
Internet
Governance.

  A biography (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/46292.htm) of  
Ambassador
Gross is also available on the State Department Web site.

  More information (http://www.itu.int/wsis/) is also available on the
WSIS Web site.


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