Governing the Internet: Web Control

Major wars of global consequence have been fought near present-day Tunis, the battles of Rome and Carthage during the Punic Wars 264-146 BC and of the allied and axis powers in World War Two. Is Washington’s imperial reign over the Internet about to be defeated there in a campaign of UN bureaucrats and civil society activists? It is doubtful Tunis will face a siege of anti-globalisation hoodies, yobs, or even an electronic attack. The US is not alone in rejecting any idea of a UN-ternet and may indeed warn the international body to keep its hands off.

The World Today Updated 15 October 2020 5 minute READ

Dr Rex Hughes

The UN world summit on the information society is about to gather in Tunis to debate the future of Internet governance. According to some observers, it is really an attempt to wrestle the reigns of Internet leadership away from the United States.

In a sudden about face, the European Union shocked the US in late September by transferring its support to countries opposing US leadership of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Name and Numbers (ICANN), the body that manages top level domains and global distribution of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

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