[Rodney King]

The delegates' argument is that unilateral U.S. control over these domain names reflects no more than the historical accident of the Internet's origins.

Yeah, it's just a "historical accident" that the internet wasn't invented in Albania.

[PeterFinn]

Start your own networks if you don't like our, ya bUNch of weenies!

[kallisti]

"historical accident"???

Catchy. Have they used it with drug patents yet?

[coloradan]

United States of America country code = 1, the same as for dialing long distance. Why is America #1? Because we invented the telephone, and the concept of telephone country codes.

[Irish_Thatcherite]

The UN want to control the Internet.

The computer is to the Information Revolution what the gun is to the Industrial Revolution - both are guarantors of Liberty!

[Logical me]

"Why should the United States continue to control the registration"

The US does not have control of registration. It is a private company who's sole purpose is to make sure that duplicate addresses are not given. Can you imagine if fifty people had the same web site and email address. What confusion. Once government jacka@@ get control, they will start censorship and ruin the freedom it now has.

[JamesP81]

Other countries have their own phone systems, they can build their own computer network as well. In fact, this would be a simple solution. Telephone systems from other countries are designed to interface with each other, it would be easy to get other networks to interface with each other, especially since TCP/IP is the de facto communications protocol. A simple prefix and a quick change to the US DNS servers would allow you to add a country code in your web address. Using a different country code and the DNS servers would know which network to send you over to.

[Cicero]

90% of the internet is in North America. If other countries want to control their own internets, they are welcome to. It's nice to be able to access overseas addresses, but it's not nearly as important to us as it is to them.

We need to hang on to what we've got. If they want to join, fine. If not, let them start their own internets. It would be a modest loss for us, but not as great a loss as having a bunch of tin pot dictators with no accountability running everything.

[Interesting Times]

A remarkably reasonable editorial from The Post.

For example, you'd be hard-pressed to get the NY Times to admit that the U.S. Navy serves any useful purpose.

[Prime Choice]

Typical U.N. hubris. Take something that others made great and screw it up by turning it over to socialists, tyrants, terrorists and their sycophants.

Screw that. If they want to run a global network so badly, let 'em make their own! After the oil-for-food scandal, they've clearly shown they aren't fit to scrub the world's sewers.

And I'll be damned if I'll stand by while they turn the World Wide Web into the Third World Wide Web!