Compromise deal 'paves the way for gradual internationalisation of internet governance'

Brussels, 16/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - The 170 countries attending the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) that opened in Tunisia on Wednesday, reached agreement on Tuesday on internet governance. After talks between the EU, which wants shared control of the web, and the US, happy with the current California-based non-governmental ICANN system (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, see EUROPE 9067) 'paves the way for a progressive internationalisation of internet governance,' said Viviane Reding. The European Commission is delighted that agreement was reached, based largely on EU proposals, on the creation of an Intergovernmental Forum to discuss all internet issues, like spam, viruses and cybercrime. Commissioner Reding said: 'The fact that the EU spoke with one voice in Tunis, and had stood by its case for more cooperation on internet governance in the run-up to the Summit, certainly strongly influenced this positive agreement.' Her spokesperson, Martin Selmayr, said the new forum would meet for the first time in Greece in the second half of 2006, and WSIS had also seen governments agreeing to work more closely together on public policy issues associated with the coordination and management of critical internet resources. There was also agreement at WSIS that countries should not be involved in decisions regarding other country's Top Level Domain decisions (.org, dot.com, etc), thus meeting requests by the EU. Viviane Reding explained: 'This agreement was possible because of the strong belief of all democratic nations that enhanced international cooperation is the best way to make progress towards guaranteeing the freedom of the internet around the globe.' The United States is happy with the agreement because the US has won its fight to stay in charge of the internet through ICANN. David Gross, head of the US delegation at WSIS, said: 'There's nothing new in this document that wasn't already out there before.' Selmayr said it was to be expected that all sides would say they had won after such controversial talks.