The Future of Internet
Governance and policy
2 Governance and policy issues in the future Internet
The issue of Internet governance is becoming a critical one. Governance issues are not DNS issues although governance relies on DNS. DNS was designed by researchers and technicians and it was not meant to be a governance instrument. Nevertheless, as the global Internet relies heavily on DNS which is centrally controlled, the opportunity to assume control over the Internet governance is not implemented in a neutral way. Internet governance is much more important than DNS and should not be considered as a simple industrial aspect.
Internet is nowadays part of a nation’s wealth. Consequently, it’s too important to be left alone. As it was designed, it cannot be relied on. Internet governance should be transparent, democratic and multilateral.
The issue of «who should be in charge of DNS» is a topic for debate. Various views have been expressed on the occasion of the WSIS event in Tunis. The EU has supported a democratic and transparent control of the DNS, and has further supported the creation of the IGF to progress the issue. EU is strongly in favour of the interoperability, openness and neutrality for the Internet, which is seen as a vector for democracy and freedom.
As lots of objects will be connected in the future, Object Naming Service (ONS) will be equally important as the DNS (e.g. using the code inside RFID chip to retrieve objects). In the future, control of DNS will be linked to ONS. Internet governance will have a very different meaning. Having info without a person’s consent will become an issue. Then, technical issues will become visible to the persons.
The architecture of the Internet is hence becoming a political issue. The neutrality of the Internet is also an issue (see e.g. case of China). But the Internet itself should not become political.