EU wants shared control of Internet

[cyberpj]

EU wants shared control of Internet By AOIFE WHITE
Friday, September 30, 2005 Posted at 12:48 PM EDT
Associated Press

BRUSSELS, Belgium — The European Union insisted Friday that governments and the private sector must share the responsibility of overseeing the Internet, setting the stage for a showdown with the United States on the future of Internet governance.

A senior U.S. official reiterated Thursday that the country wants to remain the Internet's ultimate authority, rejecting calls in a United Nations meeting in Geneva for a U.N. body to take over.

EU spokesman Martin Selmayr said a new cooperation model was important "because the Internet is a global resource."

"The EU ... is very firm on this position," he added.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050930.gteusep30/BNStory/Technology/

[KitchenWitch]

1. Good!

[RoyGBiv]

2. Yes and no ...

It's good the EU is not just rolling over and playing dead, but the consequences of this battle could turn Shrub's "Internets" screw-up into a prophetic vision. At issue is the control of domain name servers.

If the US and the rest of the world essentially split on this issue, "the Internet" will no longer exist. You'll have nationally or regionally controlled internets with no direct pathways between them. The address www.foo.com in the US would point to one server while the same address in England might point to another.

The real problem here is that the international community is sick and tired of having the United States, under Shrub, dictate to it what the standards are. Discussion of the war in Iraq has invaded these technological discussions, which is the kind of subject that is unprecedented at these sorts of conferences. US foreign policy is bearing fruit. Even if the subjects aren't directly related, every point of contention between the US and other nations is being dictated by our strong-arm tactics in the Middle East.

Al Gore may not have invented the Internet, but the Shrub could well kill it. My main concern at this point is that this is exactly what he and his cronies want, that "the Internets" comment was less ignorance than foreshadowing.

We can cheer the EU all we want and feel good about it, but for those of us who have come to rely on easy and quick international communication via the Internet, we had better hope some sort of compromise is possible.

[bemildred]

3. Could get very messy, but ...

I'm not too worried. This is far from the first time that
clueless political hacks have tried to control technology.
The genie will not be put back in the bottle.

However this could create a business/political opportunity for
someone willing to run public root name services that are
guaranteed not to be munged by politicians.

[SKKY]

4. Good, tell them to get their own Al Gore and Invent one!!!!!