Internet Governance: The United States won the battle, but will the Internet win the war?

Abstract

The second stage of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunisia in November 2005 saw the long-standing debate over who should govern the Internet reach an apparent culmination. The vast majority of parties involved (over 10,000 people from over 170 countries) announced their acquiescence to the final agreement, which allowed ICANN to maintain responsibility for domain name allocation, while introducing a non-binding multi-stakeholder Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to be set up alongside.1 However, this current Paper will show that the agreement provides limited assistance to the ongoing discussion and resolution on Internet governance, and furthermore that unless the key players – particularly the United States – alter their stance, the Internet is in danger of fragmentation and gridlock, which is a genuine possibility unless the governance of the Internet moves to an International level away from exclusive American control.