U.S. to retain oversight of Web

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Efforts to replace U.S. oversight of the Internet with an international committee were defeated yesterday during U.N.-sponsored meetings.

Hundreds of government, nonprofit and industry delegates meeting at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, Tunisia, agreed to establish a new international forum to discuss Internet issues, but it would not have any policy-making power.

"No new organizations were created," said David Gross, the State Department's Internet policy chief and head of the U.S. delegation. "No oversight mechanisms were established by anyone over anyone. There was also no change in the U.S. government's role in relation to the Internet, and no mechanism for such a change was created.

"It was a clean sweep, I'd say."

Several U.S. congressmen remain skeptical. Rep. John T. Doolittle, California Republican, with two other members of Congress, has introduced a resolution urging that the U.S. remain in charge of the Internet's day-to-day operations.

"Whether they call it a 'board' or a 'forum,' it's clear that the ultimate goal of the U.N. is still to wrest control of the Internet," Mr. Doolittle said last night.

More than 11,000 government, business and civic leaders are in Africa for the three-day summit, which was scheduled to officially begin today and is focused on identifying ways to bridge the global "digital divide" between technology haves and have-nots. But the potential fight over future Internet governance dominated the preparatory sessions.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a nonprofit based in Marina del Rey, Calif., oversees the Internet's domain-name system under a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Commerce Department.

Many nations, including China, Brazil, Cuba and Iran, have sought to end the U.S. government's oversight role, and the European Union recently proposed phasing out the Commerce Department's oversight of ICANN.

U.S. government officials rejected all efforts to change the current Internet governance structure.