[Ecommerce] Le Monde diplomatique on Internet Governance

Tue Nov 15 09:30:02 2005

http://mondediplo.com/2005/11/01internet

The spider in the web
By Ignacio Ramonet

THE second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society runs in
Tunis later this month. Its first phase, convened by the United Nations
and organised by the International Telecommunication Union, was held in
Geneva in December 2003 and focused on the digital divide (1). The Tunis
summit=92s main theme is how to find a more democratic regulation system fo=
r
the internet.

The internet was invented in the United States during the cold war. The
Pentagon wanted to set up a communication system that would survive a
nuclear attack and allow political and military leaders (those who were
still alive) to regroup and fight back. Vinton Cerf, still studying in Los
Angeles at the time, dreamed up and worked out, with the help of a
research team and public money, the tools and protocols of a revolutionary
new means of communication. But access to this embryonic net was limited
to a tiny circle of initiates in academia, politics and the military.

In 1989 the physicists Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau, of the
European Organisation for Nuclear Research in Geneva, developed the
hypertext system for linking documents and invented the world wide web.
This technology facilitated information distribution and public access to
the net, soon to expand massively and exponentially.

Since 1998 the global network has been run by the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), a private-sector, non-profit
organisation based in Los Angeles. It is subject to California law and
supervised by the US Department of Commerce. Icann is the net=92s mighty
switchboard. It is equipped with 13 colossal computers known as root
servers, 10 located in the US (four in California and six near Washington
DC) while the others are sited in London, Stockholm and Tokyo.

Icann=92s main role is to coordinate the domain name system (DNS), which
facilitates web navigation. Every computer that is connected to the
internet has a unique internet protocol (IP) address. In their simple
form, these addresses are a string of numbers. Since numbers are not easy
to remember, the DNS allows them to be translated into domain names of
words and letters. Instead of typing the raw IP address of this
publication into your web browser, you type www.mondediplo.com. The DNS
then converts the domain name back into the IP address and your computer
connects to the site. Email works by the same system. All this happens at
lightning speed and on a planetary scale.

In its own words, Icann =93is dedicated to preserving the operational
stability of the internet; to promoting competition; to achieving broad
representation of global internet communities; and to developing policy
appropriate to its mission through bottom-up, consensus-based processes=94
(2).

But lately there has been less and less consensus. Challenges to US
control of the worldwide network are getting louder and stronger. Last
September there was a preparatory summit in Geneva, ahead of the Tunis
meeting, between the US and the European Union. Icann=92s contract with the
US Department of Commerce expires in September 2006, and the EU=92s 25
states unanimously demanded that this watershed be the occasion for a
comprehensive overhaul of the internet regulation system. But Washington
refused to countenance any change, and the talks got nowhere.

Though not always for the same reasons, Brazil, China, India and Iran all
share the EU=92s position in opposing the US on this. Some countries are
even threatening to create their own national regulation bodies, which
could lead to a disastrous fragmentation of the net. The disagreement has
a geopolitical dimension. In an ever more globalised world, communication
is a precious strategic resource (see Own or share?). Its role is
fundamental in an economy so dominated by the non-material. So control of
the net could put whoever holds it at a decisive strategic advantage. In
the 19th century control of sea routes (=93ruling the waves=94) was at the
heart of the British empire=92s enormous power.

In theory, hegemony over the net gives the US the power to limit anyone=92s
access to any site in any country. It can also block emails anywhere in
the world. So far, it has never done this. But technically it could, and a
number of countries are worried by this potential. So this is the time to
demand that Icann cease to answer to Washington. Instead, it should be
turned into an independent organisation under UN supervision.

More about Ignacio Ramonet.
Translated by Gulliver Cragg
(1) See Ignacio Ramonet, Gaps in the net, Le Monde diplomatique, English
language edition, January 2004.

(2) http://www.icann.org and http://www.icann.net

(3) The Guardian, London, 11 October 2005