EU calls for independent governance of the internet

Despite having less than 15 per cent of web users, the US is still effectively in charge of the internet

EU calls - again - for independent ICANN

The European Commission (EC) is calling for changes in the way the internet is governed.

On 30 September, the agreement expires between web governance body the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the US Department of Commerce, and as a result the EU said this is the right time for ICANN to shift to more "open, independent and accountable governance of the internet."

EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding said that ICANN was approaching a historic point in its development and posed the question of whether it would become a fully independent organisation, accountable to the global internet community.

"Europeans would expect so, and this is what we will push for. I call on the US to work together with the EU to achieve this," said Reding

ICANN is the main body responsible for key decisions about how the internet operates and domain naming conventions at a global level. A significant factor behind the EC call for openness is that, of an approximate total of more than 1.5 billion internet users, the US has less than 15 per cent of all users. That figure will continue to fall as the number of Asian users, currently around 680 million, grows at an approximate rate of 100 million users per year, while US internet user growth is flat, according to EU statistics.

However, a block on ICANN's independence, even if the US were to cede control, is that ICANN has a continuing contract with the US government to manage the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). IANA is responsible for the global DNS root co-ordination, and manages IP resources allocating them to regional internet registries such as the European one, Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC).