Gary Younge in New York and agencies
Saturday July 2, 2005 The Guardian

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1519551,00.html>

The Bush administration has decided to retain control over the principal
computers which control internet traffic in a move likely to prompt global
opposition, it was claimed yesterday. The US had pledged to turn control of
the 13 computers known as root servers - which inform web browsers and email
programs how to direct internet traffic - over to a private, international
body.

But on Thursday the US reversed its position, announcing that it will
maintain control of the computers because of growing security threats and
the increased reliance on the internet for global communications. A Japanese
government official yesterday criticised the move, claiming it will lend
momentum to the debate about who controls the information flow online.

"When the internet is being increasingly utilised for private use, by
business and so forth, there is a societal debate about whether it's
befitting to have one country maintaining checks on that ... It's likely to
fuel that debate," said Masahiko Fujimoto, of the ministry of internal
affairs and communications' data communications division.

The computers serve as master directories that contain government-approved
lists of the roughly 260 suffices used, such as .com or .co.uk. Anyone who
uses the web interacts with them every day. But a policy decision by the US
could, at a stroke, make all sites ending in a certain suffix unreachable.

Despite many doomsday scenarios, the most recent US decision will have
little if any immediate effect on internet users, and given the internet's
anarchic nature it may simply represent a desire to assert state control
even when it is not possible to do so.

Claudia Bernett, 32, a digital design analyst in New York, said: "Scary as
it seems, because of the nature of the internet, I think they'll be
hardpressed to create a coherent system that is capable of the kind of
monitoring they hope for ... Eventually, the people participating in the
system will find the technological means to evade the watchful eye."

Experts say that in the worst-case scenario, countries that refused to
accept US control of the main computers could establish their own separate
domain name system, with addresses in some places that others would not be
able to reach, making the world wide web give way to discrete, regional web
domains.

Mr Fujimoto said that is also unlikely because of its complexity, but the US
decision will raise serious concerns that will not be assuaged easily. The
announcement comes just weeks before a UN panel is set to release a report
on internet governance. Some nations want international oversight of the
issue but historically the US has maintained the role because it was such a
key player in the early years of the internet's development.

if this helps in eliminating online theft, identity theft, viruses, etc and makes internet faster then do it!

otherwise there are more important issues to be taken care of in America, and that is the ever increasing debt and bankruptcy rates

I agree with spikelee. I think that it's a situational thing and there are plenty of more important problems in life than this one. Hopefully it does cut down of some of the problems running rampant on the internet.