U.N. control of Web rejected

GENEVA — The United States, backed by the European Union, Japan and Canada, has turned back a bid by developing nations to place the Internet under the control of the United Nations or its member governments.

But governments, the private sector and others will be asked to establish a mechanism under U.N. auspices to study the governance of the Internet and make recommendations by 2005.

The move came in preparatory talks for the World Summit on the Information Society, opening Wednesday in Geneva. More than 200 delegates from more than 100 countries attended the talks.

The draft declaration to be issued at the end of the conference Friday also includes strong references to freedom of the press and freedom of information online, despite protests by Vietnam and China, which pushed for more restrictions.

More than 60 heads of state and government and about 12,000 delegates are expected to participate in the conference, aimed at advancing the management and worldwide use of the Internet, especially in meeting needs such as health and education in developing nations.

Major differences remain between developed countries and African countries led by Senegal over the creation of a “global digital solidarity fund.” Talks on the issue will continue today and tomorrow.

Ambassador David A. Gross, the chief of the U.S. delegation, applauded the decision on control of the Internet.

“For the first time, we see governments internationally recognizing that which we have talked about for many years — that the Internet is a responsibility not only of governments, but also primarily of the private sector, civil society and others both in the developed and the developing countries,” he said.

“So we see now a consensus around the U.S. position, which is that multistakeholders all play an important role in the process.”

The nations agreed Saturday to ask U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to set up a working group on Internet governance “in an open and inclusive process that ensures a mechanism for the full participation of governments, the private sector and civil society … to investigate and make proposals for action, as appropriate, by 2005.”

The decision was welcomed by Paul Twomey, president and chief executive officer of the California-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which coordinates such matters as servers and domain names.

“This has been a victory for the pro-business model,” he said. “I think this language is actually very pleasing. …”

“We think the action plan reflects the sort of argument we’ve been making for the last months. The partnership of the private sector and civil society has actually helped build the Internet, and we think that’s the right sort of partnership for going forward.”

Story Continues →