Europe Warns U.S. Not To Seize Control Of Internet

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February 26, 1998 (3:27 PM EST)

Europe Warns U.S. Not To Seize Control Of Internet

By Jeremy Scott-Joynt,

The European Commission has told the United States government that its plans on how to govern the Internet amount to a de facto U.S. takeover of the international network.

In a draft reply Wednesday to the U.S. government "green paper" outlining proposals for privatizing the Internet's domain name administration infrastructure, the European Commission said the paper ignored the need for an international dimension to Internet governance.

The document, which was criticized by European-based organizations for being U.S.-centric, "seems to seek exclusive U.S. jurisdiction over the Internet," said the European Commission response paper published by Martin Bangemann, the European commissioner in charge of communications policy. Bangemann said he hoped all 15 European Union member states would adopt his document as pan-European policy.

In particular, Bangemann's paper said the green paper fails to properly address the vexed question concerning the connection between domain names and trademarks. According to the European commissioner, the U.S. proposals "could, in the name of globalization and privatization, consolidate permanent U.S. jurisdiction" over Internet-related trademark-dispute resolution.

The U.S. approach smacked too much of an attempt to retain control of a system which -- though it may have originated in the U.S. -- has taken on global dimensions, according to Bangemann. "We want to have a global discussion," he said.

Responses to the green paper must be in by March 23. The Telecommunications Council of the European Union -- consisting of the telecom minister of the member states -- is meeting Thursday to discuss Bangemann's draft document.