Deal Reached on Managing the Internet

U.S. officials said early Wednesday that instead of transferring management of the system to an international body such as the United Nations, an international forum would be created to address concerns. The forum, however, would have no binding authority. U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce Michael D. Gallagher, however, said the deal means the United States will leave day-to-day management to the private sector, through a quasi-independent organization called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.

This deal can be fairly easily summarized. The US is retaining administrative management of the internet, but an organizational framework is being set up to make comments and suggestions for changes and improvements, which the US can act on, or not, as it sees fit, thus giving the UNOcrats and EUrocrats a fig-leaf concession to hide behind.

Not too bad! The Chief thinks that someone(s) had a clue as to how things REALLY were, and came up with a formula that COULD be interpreted as a concession from the US, but that had no real realignment of the way things are now run. Did anyone REALLY think that the US was going to turn internet admin rights over to the UNO (UN disOrganization)?!

The onus now lies with the developing world to bring in not just opinions, but investment to expand the Internet to their benefit, he (Gallagher) said.

What a concept! You want something? You pay for it and build it! Radical stuff for UN/EU apparatchiks to wrap thier minds around.

This time at least, the big dog on the block wouldn’t let himself get penned up by the Poodles and friends.