That kind of power to hinder or foster freedom of the Internet, centralized in a single government, is the crucial issue for many of the 12,000 people expected in Tunis this week for a United Nations summit meeting on the information age.

Four years of high-level talks on Internet governance will conclude with the meeting. On its eve, a figurative ocean separates the American position - that the Internet works fine as it is - from most of the rest of the world. That includes the European Union, which says the Internet is an international resource whose center of gravity must move away from Washington.

This even made Morning Edition on NPR this morning. Is all this fuss just about the root zone or is there more to it? We really need to find a way to throw the Europeans a bone in such a way that will placate them and at the same time not result in much substantive change while we try to figure out a non-disruptive way to get away from a centrally managed root.zone (which, btw, can be gotten from here)

Other Nations Hope to Loosen U.S. Grip on Internet