Panel Suggests Internet Governance Options

A United Nations panel created to recommend how the Internet should be run in the future has failed to reach consensus but did agree that no single country should dominate.

The United States stated two weeks ago that it intended to maintain control over the computers that serve as the Internet’s principal traffic cops.

In a report, the U.N. panel outlined four possible options for the future of Internet governance for world leaders to consider at a summit in November.

One option would largely keep the current system intact, with a U.S.-based nonprofit organization, the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers, continuing to handle basic policies over Internet addresses.

At the other end, ICANN would be revamped and new international agencies formed under the auspices of the U.N.