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ITU head: 'We must work together to control the web'
No need for a "superstructure"...

By Reuters

Published: Monday 15 January 2007

The internet should continue to be overseen by major agencies including the Icann (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), rather than any new "superstructure", the new head of the ITU has said.

Hamadoun Toure, who took up the reins of the United Nations agency this month, said the ITU would focus on tackling cyber security and in narrowing the "digital divide" between rich and poor countries.

Toure told a news conference: "We all must work together, each agency has its role to play. We must come to a better co-operation... and avoid setting up a superstructure which would be very controversial and very difficult to put into effect."

The US-based, not-for-profit Icann manages the internet's domain-name addressing system. It reports to the US Commerce Department, which last September said it would retain oversight for three more years.

Some critics say the US government has too much control over Icann, which has evolved into a crucial engine for global commerce, communications and culture. Countries such as Brazil and Iran have argued that the net should be managed by the UN or another global body.

Toure, an electrical engineer from Mali, said: "It is not my intention to take over the governance of internet. I don't think it is in the mandate of ITU and as secretary-general I will continue to contribute to the debate over internet governance and continue to provide technical support."

He added: "I will be focusing on cyber security... "

Asked about repression of freedom of expression on the internet, including in China where web users have been imprisoned, Toure said: "Freedom of expression is a question of content-editing, which is beyond the mandate of ITU.

"ITU does not deal with the content of the internet but it has to be involved in the security of the network."

In addition to overseeing electronic numbering, ITU will back the web's growth through broadband standardisation, ecommerce security, and video-recording systems that will enable 3G to be accessible to the internet, according to Toure.

Toure, who joined ITU in 1999, was elected secretary-general last November, succeeding Japan's Yoshio Utsumi. The agency has 191 member states and 640 private sector members.