Eleventh hour deal avoids global split over Internet control
TUNIS, Nov 16 (AFP) - An eleventh hour deal has avoided a potentially
damaging split between the United States and the rest of the world over control
of the Internet, after diplomats agreed to work towards enhanced international
cooperation.
Negotiators said they had struck an agreement on key clauses on Internet
governance for endorsement during the World Summit on the Internet Society,
which began in Tunis on Wednesday.
A three-year deadlock in preliminary talks until the final hours of Tuesday
had revolved around Washington's single-handed oversight of the private body
that oversees the key technical and administrative roots of the global
network.
Officials had warned that the Internet could have been torn into competing
or disconnected networks if the sometimes bitter split had continued.
The agreement set up two parallel tracks of multilateral talks, including
an open-ended process "towards enhanced cooperation" by "relevant international
organisations" on oversight and public policy issues.
The new process will be triggered by United Nations Secretary General Kofi
Annan in the first quarter of 2006, according to the final draft, but set no
target for an outcome.
Despite sharp criticism, the private, non-profit, Internet Corporation For
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was expected to have its tender renewed by
the US government next summer, since nothing in the final draft ruled it out.
"We did not change anything on the role of the US government with regard to
the technical aspects that we were very concerned about," top US negotiator
David Gross said after the agreement struck between 170 countries.
"We saw the world's countries recognising how very important the Internet
is and how important the growth of the Internet is, and no one created a
problem that could help retard that growth," Gross, the US coordinator for
international communications and information policy, added.
Countries such as Iran and China had sought UN oversight of ICANN or
Internet governance, while the European Union wanted to water down US powers,
but the US firmly objected.
The other track creates an Internet Governance Forum (IGF) for an initial
five-year term to hold talks on all Internet issues, including problems such as
as spam, cyber crime or computer viruses.
After a final session which saw US, Chinese and Iranian diplomats swapping
suggestions for new wording, officials applauded efforts to widen the scope of
formal discussion to industry and civil society.
The IGF, which Greece has offered to host, will also be allowed to "build
on the existing structures of Internet Governance" but has no concrete powers.
"The worst has been avoided but we're not sure that the best is to come in
the future. We have left a door open," a member of the French delegation,
Bernard Benhamou, said.
"We did not close the door to the essential part, international
cooperation," he added.
UN Under Secretary General for Communications Shashi Tharoor said an
agreement on Internet governance was "crucial" to continue to build on freedom
of expression on the global process.
"We need more voices in the process and we need more voices on the net,"
Tharoor told journalists, adding that it was "very important that the Internet
remain a realm for freedom of expression and freedom of opinion".
Public policy issues include Internet resources, security of the network,
and development issues, as well as ICANN's role in allocating domain names and
addresses. The forum, however, has a wider mandate.
Washington's critics had warned that no single nation could maintain
control over top level domain or country names -- such as .cn, .fr and .uk --
without the threat of it being misused to block a foe's access to the Internet
for political or economic reasons.
The US had warned that regimes that do not allow freedom of speech might
instead be in a position to have leverage over the Internet.