What would the cyber world be like if an international body took over Internet management of the World Wide Web? Can you say, United Nations?
It’s alarming to think that such a key factor in the global economy and information network could go the way of the United Nations, where corruption, incompetence and negligence are often winked at.
Well, there are agitators who want to strip the U.S. of its role as the kindly (thus far) king of the World Wide Web. The International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency based in Geneva, for one, has suggested that Washington has too much power over the Internet.
Brazil, India, Syria and China are also raising a fuss about what they see as America’s domination. Oh yea, let’s let Syria control the Internet – right after we all agree to trust our intellectual property rights to Brazil.
The fact is that the critics are just uncomfortable with – and jealous of – what they see as American hegemony.
The Internet is a child of 1960s and ‘70s U.S. Defense Department research. More importantly, the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which was created in 1998 by the Commerce Department, is simply a technical coordinator.
Fortunately, it appears the world won’t have the opportunity to experience the joys of Chinese or Syrian control. Late last month the Bush administration announced that it fully intends to keep the Internet and ICANN out the hands of an international body.
Ideally, the private sector should be fully in control of the Internet. And one day it may be. Seven years ago, the Commerce Department said that ICANN was on course to be independent by September 2006.
But for now, the U.S. must retain control. We know what ICANN can do. That’s the only way to ensure the Internet is safe, open and free for all to use.