p2p news / p2pnet: Negotiators from more than 100 countries have agreed to leave America in charge of the Net’s addressing system, “averting a U.S.-EU showdown at this week’s U.N. technology summit,” says the Associated Press.

Or as ComputerPartner sums it up, “The U.S. has agreed to consult with other governments over top-level domain names in a major shift in the U.S. policy on control of the Internet, European Union (E.U.) officials confirmed on Wednesday.”

Rather than transferring management of the system to an international body such as the United Nations, “an international forum would be created to address concerns,” says AP, going on, “The forum, however, would have no binding authority.

“U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce Michael Gallagher said the deal means the United States will leave day-to-day management to the private sector, through a quasi-independent organization called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.”

The European Union wanted a system under which governments would “collaborate” on governance decisions.

Now, “Under the terms of the compromise, the new group, the Internet Governance Forum, would start operating next year with its first meeting opened by Annan,” says AP. “Beyond bringing its stakeholders to the table to discuss the issues affecting the Internet, and its use, it won’t have ultimate authority.”

All parties agreed, “no government should have the last word on another country’s top level domain”, ComputerPartner has a spokesman for EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding saying. This marks a “major step towards internationalization” of Internet governance, he said.

The US has, “managed to develop the Internet without major problems and that it broadly respects online freedom of expression,”" admitted Reporters Without Borders recently. “So let us hope an acceptable compromise - that reduces government intervention to a minimum and guarantees freedom of expression -will be found at the WSIS. If not, it would be best to leave things as they are.”

See:-
Associated Press - Deal averts Internet showdown, November 16, 2005
ComputerPartner - WSIS - US caves in over monopoly control of the Internet, November 16, 2005
Reporters Without Borders - Internet governance, the position of Reporters Without Borders, November 11, 2005

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