Governance of the internet

[icernet-admin at listserv.cddc.vt.edu]

Less than a fortnight before the United Nations-sponsored World Summit on
the Information Society is to take place in Geneva, there remain wide
differences between countries on the text of the declaration and the plan of
action that is to be adopted at the first ever multilateral conference on
harnessing information and communication technologies (ICT) for development.
The summit was conceived as an opportunity for governments, the private
sector and civil society to promote the use of ICT to attain the U.N.
Millennium Development Goals and facilitate the use of digital services in
the developing countries. However, as usually happens in the run-up to U.N.
summits, negotiators find themselves unable to agree until the very last
minute on a couple of issues. The financing of programmes to bridge the
digital divide has emerged as one sticking point and governance or
administration of the internet as the other. While finance or the need for
additional resources is always a problem at the U.N. that is ultimately
settled with a compromise solution, the issue of who should administer the
internet is a potentially more difficult issue to resolve.

Source:
http://www.hindu.com/2003/12/02/stories/2003120201891000.htm