Should the United Nations control the Internet? That’s the subject of a heated debate slated to take place at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis later this month. The European Union is pressing for a UN role in governing the Internet, which is currently in the hands of a US nonprofit. Lawrence Lessig breaks down the debate and offers his views.

He talks about coexistence of multiple TLD hierarchies, censorship, and more.

The fundamental point I’ve conveyed in my writing and teaching—apparently no policymaker has yet learned this—is that policy is a function of technology. You can’t do policymaking in cyberspace without thinking about the interaction between technology and policy. It’s as ridiculous to be a policymaker and believe that you can make policy without thinking about the technology as it is to be chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and think that you can talk about competition policy without thinking about the economic consequences of the rules you impose. A smart policymaker asks, “What technology will my policy produce?” and “Will the net result of that technology in my policy be the policy result I want?”

Should the United Nations control the Internet? That’s the subject of a heated debate slated to take place at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis later this month. The European Union is pressing for a UN role in governing the Internet, which is currently in the hands of a US nonprofit. Lawrence Lessig breaks down the debate and offers his views.

The largest cause of this rift is European distrust of the United States. It’s not particularly related to the Internet. The Europeans are eager to stand up to the Americans, and that I think has been produced by the last five years of U.S. foreign policy. It’s not really a cyberlaw problem.

I am English and a strong supporter of European integration. However another reason for the problem is that a lot of the EU is very undemoractic and run entirely by bureaucrats and they love to have their fingers in every pie and consequently some of the things that come out of Brussels are full of shit.
I hate US foreign policy regarding Iraq but I have no problem with some US non-profit organisation running the internet. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Foreign policy is no excuse for anti-Americanism.
However although in part it may be anti-Americanism I think it is mostly the bureauocrats wanting a piece of the pie. Run a search on some of the things they have passed legislation on.