EU Trying to Wrest Control of Internet From U.S.

European Union officials are working to pry control of the Internet away from the United States. On May 4, EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding called for U.S. President Barack Obama to sever all existing links between the American government and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (icann)—the non-profit U.S. corporation responsible for “governing” the Internet. She said icann should be monitored by a 12-member international board.

This board would include two representatives each from North America, South America, Europe and Africa; three representatives from Asia and Australia; and the chairman of icann in a non-voting capacity.

“In the long run,” said Reding, “it is not defendable that the government department of only one country has oversight of an Internet function which is used by hundreds of millions of people in countries all over the world.”

icann chief executive Paul Twomey, however, is skeptical of EU attempts to reorganize his company. “We have a governmental advisory committee that is made up of 120 governments, including the European Union,” he said. “icann’s bylaws and structures are carefully constructed so that one stakeholder’s interests cannot be put ahead of another’s. It’s all very carefully balanced.”

Subjugating icann to an international board would tip over that balance, likely resulting in an Internet controlled by EU-style micromanagers. The free medium for communication now known as the World Wide Web could be changed forever. For more on the EU’s use of the Internet, read “U.S. Crash vs. EU Rise.”