U.S. reaches Net detente with U.N.
Remaining the primary guarantor of the Internet, the US has managed to keep the UN from gaining regulatory powers over this form of free-media. Though the Internet should be an international undertaking, it’s good in a way this control is maintained, due to how information is disseminated over the Net (read: freely). However, a compromise to create a forum concerning Internet regulation has been reached, and will be held under UN banners, which is yet another good thing.
The Bush administration and its critics at a United Nations summit here have inked a broad agreement on global Internet management that will preclude any dramatic showdown this week. By signing the statement, the Bush administration formally endorsed the creation of an “Internet Governance Forum” that will meet for the first time in 2006 under the auspices of the United Nations. The forum is meant to be a central point for global discussions of everything from computer security and online crime to spam and other “misuses of the Internet.” What the agreement does not do is require the United States to relinquish its unique influence over the Internet’s operations. The statement takes “no action regarding existing institutions,” David Gross, the ambassador leading the U.S. delegation, said Wednesday. “It created no new international organizations.”
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