Who runs the internet?

World Summit on the Information Society
Next week sees the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, in Tunisia (WSIS). The summit looks at the progress that's been made since the last WSIS in Geneva in 2003.

A plan of action was created at that meeting, laying the groundwork for a series of practical steps that could be taken to build "an inclusive information society", for example "an internet link in every village in the world by 2015”.

Response to the summit was mixed, with the development community feeling that the actions set were unambitious, and disappointment that no funding was allocated for implementation.

Internet Governance
In the run up to the summit, the US's unilateral control over the internet's domain name system has been attacked.

In theory, internet governance refers to the making and enforcement of collective policies for the global internet community. Many of these policies are technical, but they also have social and political consequences.

In 1998 the US government subcontracted these functions to a not-for-profit organisation with international participation, called Icann – the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

Icann operates under an understanding with the US Department of Commerce, which, to some, looks like American control of the internet. Icann was due to gain its independence from the Department of Commerce by September 2006. However, in July the US said it would "maintain its historic role in authorising changes or modifications to the authoritative root zone file".

America's determination to remain the ultimate purveyor of the internet has angered other countries such as China, Iran, Brazil and several African nations. There have also been threats to create a system of new internets if the US doesn’t relinquish its control.

Special preparatory meetings to address the internet governance issue are under way ahead of the summit's official start on Wednesday.

Freedom of Expression
Another important item on the agenda will be how to ensure freedom of expression online. Some critics say that Tunisia's own record of censorship make it unsuitable as a venue for such an event.

"This summit is a masquerade," says Julien Pain, who runs the Internet Freedom Desk at the Paris-based group Reporters without Borders.

"Organising a summit about the internet in a country that is so repressive of internet freedom is ridiculous."

Mr Pain calls the situation for internet users and bloggers in Tunisia "scary". He says many websites are blocked by the Tunisian authorities, and many sources of information are banned. “If you're a blogger in Tunisia, and you want to criticise online, there's no way your website will be accessible in Tunisia. As soon as the censors find your blog, they will ban it, and they will block access to your website.”

The Tunisian government defends its record. It says it only censors online postings that are deemed an incitement to violence, or racial hatred.

Tunisia is also a symbolic choice, according to Robert Shaw, who serves as Internet Strategy and Policy Adviser to the ITU. "Africa right now represents only about 3% of the world's internet users," he said. "It's still extremely unrepresented. So having this in a developing economy is very, very important."