• silicon.com
• Technology
• Networks

By Felicity Ussher, 3 September 1998 18:14

NEWS A research centre at Harvard University is offering itself as a venue for last-ditch attempts to preserve the international nature of the Internet. The summit, scheduled for 12 and 13 September, will attempt to define a new governing structure for the Internet's top body, Iana (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority). Iana is currently funded by the US government, but a US white paper agreed earlier this year to hand over control to industry representatives on 1 October 1998. An International Forum on the white paper, held across four continents this summer, did not reach a consensus on Internet governance. Now, just two weeks before the deadline, the viewpoints of participants from Europe and Asia-Pacific could be blocked by US-centric proposals from Iana and the leading domain name registrar, Network Solutions. Michael Schneider, head of EuroISPA (Internet Service Providers Association), told Silicon that unless all parties attend the summit at Harvard's Berkman Center, the US could come to dominate international law - both on the Internet and in other issues. "The new Iana must have the right legal foundations," he told Silicon News. "The Berkman Centre will recruit corporate lawyers to tell us which US state has the most suitable laws on key issues such as copyright." Schneider stressed that the legal issue is vital, as growth of the Internet will lead to its laws being adopted by the rest of the world over the next ten years. If the Berkman summit is not a success, Schneider said the US government is most likely to adopt the proposal from Iana's Jon Postel, a founding father of the Internet. Postel wants to appoint the registrars of country code domains to the new Iana, and to set it up in California. Most of these registrars are resident in the US, and have few interests outside the country. Iana has not yet decided to attend the Harvard summit. A glance at its chat forums shows heated debate between its members over whether or not to take part.