Countries debate U.N. control over Internet

UNITED NATIONS -- Typically, only heads of state and titans of industry get an audience on the 38th floor of the marble-and-glass tower housing the United Nations.

So when the president of a California nonprofit corporation with an unwieldy name -- the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers -- met Friday with Secretary-General Kofi Annan, it signaled the group's importance in a computer-driven world.

ICANN oversees the Domain Name System -- such as ".com," ".net" and ".org" -- that allows computers to find each other in cyberspace. It is sanctioned by the United States government, which funded the Internet's early development.

Some countries and activists argue that ICANN is too close to the United States and want the United Nations to take a greater role in regulating the Internet.

Last week, about 200 diplomats, activists and representatives of companies like Hewlett-Packard Co. and Sun Microsystems Inc. met at the United Nations to share ideas on whether the Internet should be governed and, if so, how.

The gathering grew from December's U.N. World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva, where the world's leaders failed to reach consensus on governing the Internet and punted the issue to a task force that is supposed to report to Annan in 2005.

It ended Saturday with a closed-door meeting of diplomats.

Computer industry officials at the meeting were skeptical of a U.N. role, but they agreed that some kind of international body could be useful in coordinating language issues, security and getting the Internet into developing countries.

Most believed an international body had no right to regulate the content of Web sites, a concern for countries like China and North Korea.

Deputy U.N. Secretary-General Louise Frechette singled out "spam," network security and privacy as areas where international cooperation was needed.

Because ICANN reports to the U.S. Department of Commerce, some countries are nervous that Washington could force the disruption of Internet traffic to entire countries by deleting them from central computers -- like ripping out pages of a telephone directory.

While that is technically possible, it would be a disaster for the Internet and ICANN, industry officials say.

"The first time anyone tried to do that, there would be such a hue and cry," said Michael Aisenberg, director of government relations for VeriSign Inc., an ICANN contractor that keeps the master list of domain name suffixes like ".com."

"You would be such a pariah, you would have your role as a custodian ripped away from you."

Critics say ICANN is slow in making decisions and adopting new technology, like ways to transmit Chinese and Arabic characters. VeriSign has sued the organization, saying it is standing in the way of lucrative new services.

ICANN, based in Marina del Rey, Calif., also chooses who controls the country codes -- like ".us" or ".uk" -- that define each country's piece of real estate in cyberspace.

During the 1990s, Afghan expatriates wrested control of the ".af" address from the Taliban, who ran the country. ICANN returned it to the government in March 2003 after the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance drove the Taliban from power.

Twomey said ICANN consulted the United Nations Development Program before making the Afghan handover, but some people still are uncomfortable with its power.

In 2000, ICANN approved a separate domain name for Palestinian Web sites -- ".ps" -- giving them independence in cyberspace before they get a country of their own. It has yet to decide the future of Iraq's "iq."

"We've got a California corporation, working under the Department of Commerce, deciding who's a country. Where does statehood begin?" said Karl Auerbach, a former ICANN board member.

Twomey denies any U.S. government influence in ICANN's work.

"I have never once seen the United States' foreign policy have any impact on this process," he said.

Other critics say ICANN is too slow in making decisions and adopting new technology, like ways to transmit Chinese and Arabic characters. VeriSign has sued the organization, saying it is standing in the way of lucrative new services.

Developing countries, meanwhile, complain they are being left behind. The United Nations is studying ways to get cheap computers into those countries, and Aisenberg said VeriSign and other companies were considering starting a fund to encourage Internet entrepreneurs there.