After US snooping, Europe demands more say over the Internet
The European Union wants more power over the the Internet, after revelations of widespread U.S. surveillance activities have caused what it calls a "loss of confidence" in the global network's current structure.
Power over the Internet?
The Wall Street Journal says The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, will propose tomorrow the adoption of "concrete and actionable steps" to globalise essential Web functions.
One example: like the assignment of so-called top-level domain names, for example, used by countries—that are still contractually linked to the U.S. government.
The WSJ, quoting a draft policy paper it has seen, says the European executive arm will also propose establishing a "clear timeline" for fully internationalizing the U.S.-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.”
“Large-scale surveillance and intelligence activities have…led to a loss of confidence in the Internet and its present governance arrangements," the document says.
Europe has been pressuring the U.S. for several years to speed the slow internationalization of the Internet's governance.
The paper also attempts to position Europe as a key broker in coming negotiations over technical rules governing the Internet—bridging a gap between the U.S. and countries like Russia and China .
The U.S. Commerce Department has said it is in favour of—and is participating in—a discussion over the future of Internet governance, but hasn't weighed in specifically about contractual positions. says the WSJ.
The U.S. has opposed efforts to give the United Nations telecommunications arm or other government bodies control of the Web—arguing that they could create a Balkanized Internet and enable censorship. The Europeans seem to agree with that , says the WSJ