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Story: Bush challenges EC over Internet governance

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It is hardly a "spat". There is a lot more substance to it.

For example, other countries have a real concern about the US operation of cirtical parts of the internet. For example nearly 1/4 of the root servers of the domain name system are operated by parts of the US military. That gives the US a significant ability to do data mining of DNS queries and also to defer, block, or manipulate the responses to queries from or about perceived enemies.

In addition, the existing institution of internet governance, ICANN, really does nothing more than regulate the *business* practices of the domain name industry - ICANN does not actually have its hands on any of the knobs and levers that control the day-to-day operation of the internet. Consequently, all this brouhaha about internet governance is aimed at the wrong place and at the wrong entities.

Finally, it seems that the US has a strong policy in support of democracy. Yet the institution of internet governance, ICANN, long ago rejected democracy by eliminating processes through which the public might have some real voice in its decisions. If the US policy in support of democratic empowerment of the governed in the forums of governance is to have any meaning then the US ought to recognize that its chosen vehicle of internet governance, ICANN, needs to be restructured.

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