Internet governance is skewed in favor
of developed countries that initially set up the structures,
South African Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri
said Thursday.
South Africa, with the largest number of
Internet users in Africa, fought and won a long and
controversial battle for state control over the .za country
domain name, which had been administered by independent group
NameSpace ZA.
Matsepe-Casaburri said there had been
improvement in international Internet governance since the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers (ICANN)--a U.S.-based body governing
domain names--had taken over from a previous organization,
which was under contract to the U.S. government.
But she said developing countries still
needed to be given greater control.
"We believe that legitimate governments, as
the true representatives of their country, should have an
increased voice in the governance of the Internet," she said
at an ICANN meeting.
The current system was "perpetuating old
relationships" and was stopping developing countries from
building "the necessary infrastructure for their own
development," she said.
South Africans are the continent's biggest
Internet users, but usage is small compared with developed
countries, with only an estimated 3.5 million users, or 7
percent of the population, online.
Domain names will in the future be governed
by the state-controlled Domain Name Authority. Critics argue
the Internet should remain in private hands and that
governments should not be allowed to control content.
