Internet must be regulated by UN, ITU - Dolgov
MOSCOW. June 19 (Interfax) - The attendees of an international economic forum in St. Petersburg have discussed Internet and information security regulation.
"The participants of a discussion on international information security at the international economic forum in St. Petersburg called for a fair and collective regulation of the Internet," the Russian Foreign Ministry's human rights commissioner Konstantin Dolgov wrote on his Twitter account in the early hours of Friday.
"These efforts should be led by the United Nations (UN) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). It was noted that the U.S. should not be allowed to act as it pleases and violate human rights in this sphere," the diplomat said.
In 2011, the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced a tender for a renewed contract with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). The move was prompted by a stance taken by a number of countries, in particular, Russia and China, on the issue of Internet control. In particular, they expressed their discontent with the work of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and suggested that it should hand over its duties to the ITU.
In March 2012, the NTIA said that it had not received any bids that meet the requirements for a global internet community, and announced that the tender failed. As a result, the NTIA made an exception and granted to the ICANN a six-month extension of the Internet control contract and then signed a new three-year contract with the ICANN, which expires on September 30, 2015.
Last year the NTIA announced plans to hand over Internet control to the Internet community that would represent all participants: states, businesses and users. This proposal renewed the debate over transfer of Internet-control duties but the final decision will be made later, since the process of filing and discussing offers is not over yet.
On June 9 Maxim Burtikov, External Relations Officer for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at RIPE NCC (a European Regional Internet Registry), said that Internet-control powers will not be handed over to any international organizations.
