Who will manage the global web?

[Eugen]

In 2015, the United States will delegate authority to oversee the Internet, but it was not easy to find a successor. This issue was discussed at the ICANN Internet Conference, which ended March 27th.

The discussion about who should control the Internet space has been silent for more than 15 years. Many countries, UN commissions, and civil society organizations have repeatedly called on the United States to resign from Internet surveillance. Until now, issues related to access to the global network, assigning domain names, and other aspects of the Internet have been under the jurisdiction of the US Department of Commerce, namely NTIA, the telecommunications management unit subordinate to it.

At the same time, direct control was carried out by the Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers on the Internet (ICANN). Her contract with NTIA expires in the fall of 2015.

Surprise from the American authorities

Back at the World Summit on the Information Society, which took place in 2003 in Geneva and in 2005 in Tunisia, it was planned to make Internet surveillance more international in nature. However, things did not go beyond minor cosmetic changes. The US authorities did not want to let the reins out of their hands.

All the more surprising for the global Internet community was a statement made on Friday, March 14 that the United States intends to relinquish control over the domain name system and, accordingly, the World Wide Web as a whole. Apparently, a flurry of international criticism played a significant role in making such a decision against the backdrop of the electronic surveillance scandal organized by US intelligence agencies.

In this situation, the administration of President Barack Obama needed to respond by taking some symbolic actions. Therefore, announcing the upcoming transfer of powers to supervise the Internet, NTIA head Lawrence Strickling spoke rather bluntly: "By the fall of 2015, another reliable model for the future management of the Corporation for the assignment of names and numbers on the Internet needs to be found."

The responsibilities of the ICANN Internet Administrator include, for example, providing email delivery to the correct address. The corporation also ensures that users can search for information on the Internet and share data on social networks and blogs, such as Facebook and Twitter.

Looking for the right candidate

Immediately after Strickling's statement, a struggle began between those who could take on further supervision of the global web. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has long declared its interest. “Oversight of address management and, accordingly, of the Internet is best done through a United Nations body or through a UN-affiliated organization,” said ITU Secretary General Hamadoun Touré in the fall of 2013.

However, according to experts, ITU has a small chance of getting this function. “The US authorities have made it quite clear that the transfer of Internet address management to an intergovernmental organization is unacceptable,” recalls Paul Felinger, activist of the Internet & Jurisdiction Project, a public organization that advocates for the wide participation of various community groups in Internet governance.

Unsurprisingly, the question of how a supranational body could be created to take over the Internet is on the agenda of ICANN’s five-day meeting in Singapore ending Thursday, March 27th. One option is to transform the UN-sponsored annual Internet Governance Forum into an international parliament that would give ICANN guidance and oversight.

The danger of over-control

True, for this you must first remove him from the UN submission. Many experts doubt that this is possible. They express concerns that at the next World Summit on the Information Society in 2015, this discussion platform may simply be buried under the pressure of individual countries.

Russia, China, followed by Turkey and some emerging economies, seek to establish control over the Internet. In part, they want to regulate the address system at the national level. But in this case, each country or even a union of states - such as, for example, the European Union - could build and use its own Internet address management system.

This would make it possible to determine whether it is possible in principle to open a particular site, and if so, whether users will see the original resource or another page administered domestically. “In that case, we couldn’t be sure that when we call up the Twitter page, we get to the desired website,” says Paul Felinger of the Internet & Jurisdiction Project.

No solution found yet

Nevertheless, calls for national Internet routing are heard more and more often. They could be heard in Singapore. During the ICANN meeting, the requirement to introduce routing within the Schengen countries sounded in a new way - as a call for regionalization of the network. Such routing assumes that the transfer of Internet data from one user to another will be carried out within the countries of the Schengen agreement, and not through other states that did not sign it.

"If we want to continue to have the Internet as a global structure, we need mechanisms to establish the sovereignty of states on the network," Felinger notes. According to him, this should guarantee a model that implies the participation in the Internet governance of authorities, economic unions, UN structures and representatives of various public groups. All must create a multinational organization that oversees the Internet globally. The question of how exactly this organization should look while remains open.

Source [DLMURL] https://www.dw.de/ [/ DLMURL] Internet-regulation-who-will-manage-global-web / a-17522932

 

[Матушкин Андрей Николаевич]

Eugene, thanks for the interesting material.

 

[Андрей Захаров]

Thanks Eugene) Cognitively ...

 

[Турабян Владимир]

Thank!

 

[Плотников Юрий Михайлович]

Thank!

 

[Краев Евгений Леонидович]

Thanks, interesting!