When it comes to directing Internet traffic, the United States is in control. As a U.S. invention, we are behind the wheel when driving on the information superhighway.
Many countries in the world, however, are tired of riding shotgun.
At the recent U.N. World Summit on the Information Society, held in Tunis, Tunisia, delegates pressed the U.S. to cede control of the Internet’s addressing system. The reason they want a say in the addressing system is because they would like the domain suffixes (.org, .com, etc.) of their sites to be in the language that they speak. Right now, with the rare exception, domain names are in English.
Frustrated by a lack of action, the European Union shocked the U.S. by reversing its position and supporting other countries who want to strip the U.S. of its control of the Internet by creating an international body to do the job, possibly having the U.N. do it.
In the end, world leaders approved a plan to leave control with the U.S. They made it known, however, that the debate is not over.
There are other issues as well, but none bigger than the domain debate and who should “control” the Internet.
The U.S. argues that a single addressing system is what makes the Internet so powerful. The reality is, however, that nations frustrated with an English-only system are already coming up with their own versions. According to the Associated Press, China has already set up its own .com in Chinese and an Arabic consortium is testing suffixes in Arabic. Experts say these efforts risk fracturing the Internet.
U.S. officials, including President Bush, are adamant that no one, especially a U.N. body, be put in charge of the Internet. Fair enough. But the U.S. can’t risk ignoring the citizens of the world who are knocking at the door and want in. The Internet isn’t of any help to people who can’t read information in their language. Businesses that want to reach people in their own language can’t get very far with such restrictions.
Since the U.S. proudly points to being the inventor and innovators of the Internet, let’s invent a way for everyone to participate, making it even more powerful than it is today. If we would make this a priority, perhaps people wouldn’t be suggesting the U.N. take over the Internet. Then other countries could stop coming up with their own versions.
The U.S. needn’t look provincial or selfish in this matter. It is called the World Wide Web, after all.
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