Breaking America's grip on the net

[Don Carlos]

Breaking America's grip on the net

After troubled negotiations in Geneva, the US may be forced to relinquish control of the internet to a coalition of governments

Kieren McCarthy
Thursday October 6, 2005
The Guardian


You would expect an announcement that would forever change the face of the internet to be a grand affair - a big stage, spotlights, media scrums and a charismatic frontman working the crowd.
But unless you knew where he was sitting, all you got was David Hendon's slightly apprehensive voice through a beige plastic earbox. The words were calm, measured and unexciting, but their implications will be felt for generations to come.

Hendon is the Department for Trade and Industry's director of business relations and was in Geneva representing the UK government and European Union at the third and final preparatory meeting for next month's World Summit on the Information Society. He had just announced a political coup over the running of the internet.

Old allies in world politics, representatives from the UK and US sat just feet away from each other, but all looked straight ahead as Hendon explained the EU had decided to end the US government's unilateral control of the internet and put in place a new body that would now run this revolutionary communications medium.

The issue of who should control the net had proved an extremely divisive issue, and for 11 days the world's governments traded blows. For the vast majority of people who use the internet, the only real concern is getting on it. But with the internet now essential to countries' basic infrastructure - Brazil relies on it for 90% of its tax collection - the question of who has control has become critical.

And the unwelcome answer for many is that it is the US government. In the early days, an enlightened Department of Commerce (DoC) pushed and funded expansion of the internet. And when it became global, it created a private company, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) to run it.

But the DoC retained overall control, and in June stated what many had always feared: that it would retain indefinite control of the internet's foundation - its "root servers", which act as the basic directory for the whole internet.

A number of countries represented in Geneva, including Brazil, China, Cuba, Iran and several African states, insisted the US give up control, but it refused. The meeting "was going nowhere", Hendon says, and so the EU took a bold step and proposed two stark changes: a new forum that would decide public policy, and a "cooperation model" comprising governments that would be in overall charge.

Much to the distress of the US, the idea proved popular. Its representative hit back, stating that it "can't in any way allow any changes" that went against the "historic role" of the US in controlling the top level of the internet.

But the refusal to budge only strengthened opposition, and now the world's governments are expected to agree a deal to award themselves ultimate control. It will be officially raised at a UN summit of world leaders next month and, faced with international consensus, there is little the US government can do but acquiesce.

But will this move mean, as the US ambassador David Gross argued, that "even on technical details, the industry will have to follow government-set policies, UN-set policies"?

No, according to Nitin Desai, the UN's special adviser on internet governance. "There is clearly an acceptance here that governments are not concerned with the technical and operational management of the internet. Standards are set by the users."

Hendon is also adamant: "The really important point is that the EU doesn't want to see this change as bringing new government control over the internet. Governments will only be involved where they need to be and only on issues setting the top-level framework."

Human rights

But expert and author of Ruling the Root, Milton Mueller, is not so sure. An overseeing council "could interfere with standards. What would stop it saying 'when you're making this standard for data transfer you have to include some kind of surveillance for law enforcement'?"

Then there is human rights. China has attracted criticism for filtering content from the net within its borders. Tunisia - host of the World Summit - has also come under attack for silencing online voices. Mueller doesn't see a governmental overseeing council having any impact: "What human rights groups want is for someone to be able to bring some kind of enforceable claim to stop them violating people's rights. But how's that going to happen? I can't see that a council is going to be able to improve the human rights situation."

And what about business? Will a governmental body running the internet add unnecessary bureaucracy or will it bring clarity and a coherent system? Mueller is unsure: "The idea of the council is so vague. It's not clear to me that governments know what to do about anything at this stage apart from get in the way of things that other people do."

There are still dozens of unanswered questions but all the answers are pointing the same way: international governments deciding the internet's future. The internet will never be the same again.

[axbaby]

the US invented it and the US should control what it invented.
if ya don't like it make a new modern,secure and spam free/ad free internet.

[MKJ]

@ axbaby
unless you invent your own car, you cant have traffic rules!

[4days]

the US invented it and the US should control what it invented.
if ya don't like it make a new modern,secure and spam free/ad free internet.

that's just stupid, that or my sarcasmometer is on the blink again.

[seremtan]

Breaking America's grip on the net

After troubled negotiations in Geneva, the US may be forced to relinquish control of the internet to a coalition of governments

Kieren McCarthy
Thursday October 6, 2005
The Guardian


You would expect etc.

about time too.

in an ideal world the internet would be controlled neither by governments nor large corporations (AOL comes to mind - see geoff's prisonplanet thread), instead power over it would be distributed across the end-users

[saturn]

the US invented it and the US should control what it invented.
if ya don't like it make a new modern,secure and spam free/ad free internet.

lol, go dig some diamonds

[dzjepp]

lawl! go gas some people

[Iccy (temp)]

not that i care either way, but think on this.


What if you made some amazing product that eveyone round the world bought and used and became intigrated with our way of life. Then people came and told you its no longer yours and you must give it up so that others can take your idea and use it as they see fit.

I kinda agree with axe, but really it doesnt matter either way. Its not like there is a guy some where named Uncle Sam and he owns the internet and will no longer be able to eat cause his invetion is stolen.

[saturn]

lawl! go gas some people

:/

[SoM]

the US invented it and the US should control what it invented.
if ya don't like it make a new modern,secure and spam free/ad free internet.

US didnt invent the net

hi axah

[hax103]

Breaking America's grip on the net

After troubled negotiations in Geneva, the US may be forced to relinquish control of the internet to a coalition of governments

Kieren McCarthy
Thursday October 6, 2005
The Guardian


You would expect etc.

about time too.

in an ideal world the internet would be controlled neither by governments nor large corporations (AOL comes to mind - see geoff's prisonplanet thread), instead power over it would be distributed across the end-users

Well...this kind of push has been going on for years. Its really not new and I do think its the right time for "Internet 2" which could be a new and improved net with good security and minus spam and ddos attacks. Also, I don't think that in the ideal world power should be distributed across the end-users.

Just look what happened to the USA and the vote for president

A large mob of clueless peeps voting does not necessarily equal a good decision...

which is also why trial by jury would scare me - "a dozen people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty."

[dzjepp]

lawl! go gas some people

:/

My dream come true would be for Sat to gas me and when I wake up see him putting his belt back on

[SoM]

lawl! go gas some people

:/

My dream come true would be for Sat to gas me and when I wake up see him putting his belt back on

you see, ur also gay

[Nightshade]

the US invented it and the US should control what it invented.
if ya don't like it make a new modern,secure and spam free/ad free internet.

US didnt invent the net

Nope.

http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/

[SoM]

the US invented it and the US should control what it invented.
if ya don't like it make a new modern,secure and spam free/ad free internet.

US didnt invent the net

Nope.

http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/

i have a newspaper that says otherwise, just cant find it atm if i do i'll throw you the name/s..

[Nightshade]

...faced with international consensus, there is little the US government can do but acquiesce.

Much like we did when pressured not to invade Iraq.

[hax103]

US didnt invent the net

Nope.

http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/

i have a newspaper that says otherwise, just cant find it atm if i do i'll throw you the name/s..

I'm hoping u guys are just being sarcastic or goofing around. Otherwise, it would be kinda shocking on the order of USA peeps not knowing where Canada is...

The USA department of defense funded the creation of the Arpanet in 1968, which was later renamed the Internet. One of the true founders, Vincent Cerf, actually is head of the ICANN.

In 1990, Berners-Lee created the specification for the WWW which made the Internet more accessible, but the Internet certainly existed for decades before the WWW. Email, forums, ftp, telnet, DNS, TCP/IP etc. all existed before the WWW.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet : "The subsequent creation of ARPANET in the United States in turn catalyzed a wave of technical developments that made it the basis for the development of the Internet.

The first TCP/IP wide area network was operational in 1984 when the United States' National Science Foundation (NSF) constructed a university network backbone that would later become the NSFNet."

[+JuggerNaut+]

US didnt invent the net

Nope.

http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/

i have a newspaper that says otherwise, just cant find it atm if i do i'll throw you the name/s..

you're wrong :lub:

[seremtan]

I kinda agree with axe, but really it doesnt matter either way. Its not like there is a guy some where named Uncle Sam and he owns the internet and will no longer be able to eat cause his invetion is stolen.

plus the internet isn't actually an 'invention', like the lightbulb or the zipper. it's more of an evolving process made up of loads of little inventions, like silicon chips, html etc

[seremtan]

Well...this kind of push has been going on for years. Its really not new and I do think its the right time for "Internet 2" which could be a new and improved net with good security and minus spam and ddos attacks. Also, I don't think that in the ideal world power should be distributed across the end-users.

Just look what happened to the USA and the vote for president

A large mob of clueless peeps voting does not necessarily equal a good decision...

which is also why trial by jury would scare me - "a dozen people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty."

ok, so my sarcasm-meter is broken. are you serious?

[4days]

aye i remember reading there was a thing about ibm or someone like that have to get the army and navy systems talking to each other because the two systems, having been developed independently, were incompatible.

but who invented the internet is irrelevant. it's become too important a thing for one nation to have authority over, especially one whose current administration have proven themselves to be irresponsible, reckless and corrupt.

[Nightshade]

US didnt invent the net

Nope.

http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/

i have a newspaper that says otherwise, just cant find it atm if i do i'll throw you the name/s..

Says that he didn't invent it? Note that he's not American, which was my point.

This is all irrelevant anyways. According to GeeDubya, the world can have one of the internets, we'll take the other one.

[axbaby]

the internet is wires ,computers and protocals that the world shares.
i don't see where the US controls the internet.

if it did people wouldn't be able to hide behind some countries lax rules.

50% sarcasm

[Geebs]

Many of those wires run through the US.

[AmIdYfReAk]

the US invented it and the US should control what it invented.
if ya don't like it make a new modern,secure and spam free/ad free internet.

Us Canadian's invented the first jet plane to break Mach 3, and the design that ended up being the F16's, so we should control that?

i'de be fine with that.