EU urges U.S. to share control of ICANN with other countries
Viviane Reding, the European commissioner for Internet-related issues, called today for a new multilateral approach to Internet governance once the current system expires at the end of September. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a private, nonprofit corporation established in California. It is responsible for some of the most sensitive issues related to Internet governance, such as top-level domains and management of the Domain Name System, which ensures that millions of computers can connect to each other. ICANN is partly controlled by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Earlier attempts to internationalize ICANN failed. ICANN's remit expires on Sept. 30. Reding proposed a successor body of the same name that is fully privatized adn that applies strict transparency rules. She also suggested setting up an independent judicial body as well as an intergovernmental body, possibly based on the G12 forum of governments from around the world, to oversee ICANN in future. "In the long run, 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," Reding said.
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