Posted on Wednesday, May 06 2009 @ 0:12 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding
calls for a G12-style Internet governance, she wants the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to run independently of the U.S. Department of Commerce:
"I believe that the U.S., so far, has done this in a reasonable manner," she said. "However, I also believe that the Clinton administration's decision to progressively privatize the Internet's domain name and addressing system is the right one. In the long run, it is not defendable that the government department of only one country has oversight of an Internet function which is used by hundreds of millions of people in countries all over the world."
Reding said that she hopes President Obama will continue the Clinton administration's plan to privatize the organization and said the "moment of truth" will arrive Sept. 30, when ICANN's agreement with the United States expires.
