Foreign Policy Blogs

EU proposes global Internet governance.

Yesterday, in a video podcast, the European Commissioner for Information Society, Commissioner Reding called for ICANN to be restructured. ICANN is the entity that basically governs the internet, it decides the endings of web-addresses (eg. .com, .be) and it under the notional auspices of the US governmnet. European anxiety about this arose when teh proposed .xxx doman failed under political pressure from religious groups in the US.

Commissioner Reding has called for “a new, more accountable, more transparent, more democratic and more multilateral form of internet governance”. She calls this a “G12 for Internet Governance”, a global body that could monitor the openess and security of the Internet (though one would wonder if countries like China would prioritise an open ineternet).

 

Author

David Garrahy

David Garrahy works in Brussels monitoring European Union activites. He is originally from Ireland and studied a Degree in Law & European Studies at the University of Limerick before earning a Masters in Globalisation at Dublin City Universty. Previously he has worked in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, the European Commission and as a Legislative Aide for an Irish Senator. His involvement in the EU has included working for the Irish Forum on Europe and campaigning in Referenda in favour of the Nice & Lisbon Treaties.

Area of Focus
Europe; Globalisation; European Comission.

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