The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) recently reported that, last month, the leaders of the organizations that coordinate the technical infrastructure of the Internet, including ICANN and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), convened in Montevideo, Uruguay. Synchronizing their efforts in favor of a multi-stakeholder approach to govern the Internet, they issued a statement including the call for

accelerating the globalization of ICANN and IANA functions, towards an environment in which all stakeholders, including all governments, participate on an equal footing.

According to the Internet Governance Project, Professor Dr. Milton Mueller of Syracuse University worked out the essence of the declaration:

With striking unanimity, the organizations that actually develop and administer Internet standards and resources initiated a break with 3 decades of U.S. dominance of Internet governance.

The statement, ICANN reports, also manifested the leaders’ concern of a balkanization of the Internet (nationalizing Internet governance and placing control over cyberspace under state authority), following the recent revelations of excessive Internet surveillance.

Brazil’s and Germany’s draft resolution, submitted last Friday to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), looks like a first step in this direction. Made by states for states, the international response marginalizes the Montevideo statement and its vision of “an environment in which all stakeholders . . . participate on equal footing.” The conflicting conceptions of state controlled versus multi-stakeholder governed cyberspace manifest the Crossroads, at which Internet governance is standing these days.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) recently reported that, last month, the leaders of the organizations that coordinate the technical infrastructure of the Internet, including ICANN and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), convened in Montevideo, Uruguay. Synchronizing their efforts in favor of a multi-stakeholder approach to govern the Internet, they issued a statement including the call for

accelerating the globalization of ICANN and IANA functions, towards an environment in which all stakeholders, including all governments, participate on an equal footing.

According to the Internet Governance Project, Professor Dr. Milton Mueller of Syracuse University worked out the essence of the declaration:

With striking unanimity, the organizations that actually develop and administer Internet standards and resources initiated a break with 3 decades of U.S. dominance of Internet governance.

The statement, ICANN reports, also manifested the leaders’ concern of a balkanization of the Internet (nationalizing Internet governance and placing control over cyberspace under state authority), following the recent revelations of excessive Internet surveillance.

Brazil’s and Germany’s draft resolution, submitted last Friday to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), looks like a first step in this direction. Made by states for states, the international response marginalizes the Montevideo statement and its vision of “an environment in which all stakeholders . . . participate on equal footing.” The conflicting conceptions of state controlled versus multi-stakeholder governed cyberspace manifest the Crossroads, at which Internet governance is standing these days.