U.S. to U.N.: Keep Away from Internet

The U.S. has made it clear that it will fight any attempt to put the United Nations or another international body in charge of the Internet.

At the outset of global talks on information technology in Geneva, Ambassador David A. Gross, U.S. coordinator for international communications and information technology, said the role of the U.S. government is to ensure the "stability and reliability of the Internet.�

He told the Washington Times: "We want to make sure the private sector leads and the Internet continues to be a reservoir of great innovation, and that governments continue to focus on enabling the growth of the Internet, and not of controlling its use.�

Several nations with tightly controlled media, such as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, plus a number of industrialized countries including Switzerland and Russia, would like to see the U.S. relinquish its control of the Internet.

"This situation is very undemocratic, unfair and unreasonable,� said Sha Zukang, the ambassador from China - which recently imposed new rules that allow only "healthy and civilized� news to be read by the nation�s Internet users.

The talks in Geneva are preparatory to the World Information Society Summit to be held in Tunisia in November.

An independent group exploring the Internet�s future recently suggested that a U.N. body might be established to oversee the Web.

That possibility has been rejected by Paul Twomey, president of the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers, which administers the Internet�s domain name system.

He told the Times that his organization doesn�t want to see "the Internet�s technological future politicized.�