A battle has been going on over who governs the Internet, with America demanding to maintain a key role in the network it helped create and other countries demanding more control. The European commission is (36) that if a deal cannot be (37) at a meeting in Tunisia next month the Internet will (38) apart.
At issue is the role of the US government in (39) the Internet’s address structure, called the domain name system (DNS), which (40) communication between the world’s computers. It is (41) by the California-based, not-for-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) under contract to the US department of commerce.
A meeting of (42) in Geneva last month was meant to (43) a way of sharing Internet governance which politicians could unveil at the UN-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis on November 16-18. (44) .
Viviane Reding, European IT commissioner, says that if a multilateral approach cannot be agreed, countries such as China, Russia, Brazil and some Arab states could start operating their own versions of the Internet and the ubiquity that has made it such a success will disappear. (45) .
The US government, which funded the development of the Internet in the 60s, said in June it intended to retain its role overseeing Icann, reneging on a pledge made during Bill Clinton’s presidency. (46) .