[ga-full] EU Pushes for Greater Net Influence

["!Dr. Joe Baptista" <baptista@pccf.net>]

http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,14006,00.html

 April 11, 2000, 11:20 AM PST 
 EU Pushes for Greater Net Influence
 The European Commission wants ICANN to be more open and for the ".eu" domain name to be up and
 running by year's end.
 
 By Elizabeth De Bony
 Throwing Rocks at ICANN
 
 ICANN Votes to Allow Voting
 
 One European Domain? Get EUsed to It
 
 Got a Scoop? Tip us off BRUSSELS, Belgium – Reflecting concerns about the continued dominance
 of the U.S. and U.S.-based Network Solutions over the registry of Internet domain names, the
 European Commission announced a series of recommendations today to improve the Internet's
 functionality.
 
 "The Internet's capacity to unleash enterprise is beyond question," Erkki Liikanen, European
 Commissioner for the Information Society, said in a statement. "We must now show that its
 infrastructure can be run fairly and effectively to the benefit of all its users."
 
 The recommendations, contained in a Commission Communication on "The Organization and Management
 of the Internet: International and European Policy Issues 1998-2000," reflect European Union
 concerns that although the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers was created two
 years ago to ensure international control over the network, its implementation has been less than
 perfect.
 
 As a result, the Commission proposes, among other things, to make the election of ICANN's
 governing board a more open and transparent process and to secure ICANN's funding in an open
 manner through the network of recently created registries for domain names.
 
 The Commission also has raised questions about the fact that ICANN staff is dominated by U.S.
 personnel who lack the linguistic capabilities needed for a truly international organization. "For
 example, the Japanese are still waiting for ICANN to prepare a registration form in Japanese. What
 type of democratic entity is this?" a Commission official, who asked not to be identified, said
 today.
 
 Up until last year, NSI held exclusive rights to assign domain names ending in .com, .net and
 .org. But the U.S. Department of Commerce, under pressure from various U.S. and non-U.S. parties,
 has allowed new competitors into this field. However, NSI has kept control over rights to the
 Internet name registry, which contains every address on the Internet. At a European level, the
 recommendations urge rapid approval of the proposed ".eu" high-level domain. The Commission wants
 it up and running by the end of this year, the official explained.
 
 This new domain name would coexist with the 15 national domain names within the EU and would be
 available for cross-border e-commerce services, European institutions and nonprofit organizations,
 he added. The Commission issued the recommendations as part of its continuing efforts to
 accelerate European access to the Net, which it recognizes as a top priority if the EU is to
 successfully compete in the global e-commerce market
 
 Elizabeth De Bony writes for the IDG News Service.
 

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