A U.N. panel created to recommend how the Internet should be run in the future has failed to reach consensus but did agree that no single country should dominate.
The United States stated two weeks ago that it intended to maintain control over the computers that serve as the Internet's principal traffic cops.
In a report released Thursday, the U.N. panel outlined four possible options for the future of Internet governance for world leaders to consider at a November "Information Society" summit.
One option would largely keep the current system intact, with a U.S.-based non-profit organization, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, continuing to handle basic policies over Internet addresses.
At the other end, ICANN would be revamped and new international agencies formed under the auspices of the United Nations.
"In the end it will be up to governments, if at all, to decide if there will be any change," said Markus Kummer, executive director of the U.N. Working Group on Internet Governance, which issued the report.
Seeing how well the system works currently, is there really any reason to change it? Putting the UN in charge would give nondemocratic totalitarian regimes like China, North Korea, and Iran too much say in how the Internet operates - opening the door for more regulations, restrictions on speech and business opportunities, and why should the US allow that to happen?
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