Hamadoun Toure is the new head of the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU), the UN agency, and he said that he
has no plans to take a bigger role in regulating and governing the
internet.
Some activists have pushed for the ITU to take an enlarged role
because the other bodies involved in internet governance are almost
exclusively from the US. Toure, though, said that co-operation was
the key.
"We all must work together each agency has its role to play," he
told a news conference in Geneva. "We must come to a better
co-operation and avoid setting up a superstructure which would be
very controversial and very difficult to put into effect.
The most important body in internet governance is the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is
overseen by the US Commerce Department. The US government recently
decided to retain control of ICANN for another three years.
ICANN runs the domain name system which governs internet
addresses and the connection systems between sites, and there have
long been calls for a truly internationally accountable body to
take over that role. The ITU is one of the few such bodies.
"It is not my intention to take over the governance of the
internet," Tour said. "I don't think it is in the mandate of ITU
and as secretary-general I will continue to contribute to the
debate over internet governance and continue to provide technical
support," said Toure.
Toure believes that the ITU should focus on the security of the
internet and on helping poorer countries to harness its power. "I
will be focusing on cyber-security," he said.
The body has a vital role to play in setting standards so that
technology from different manufacturers works together. This is an
important factor in keeping technology relatively cheap and easily
available. Toure said that standards for broadband internet access
and for 3G mobile phone accessibility will be amongst his
priorities.
