Governments shouldn’t get in the way of the people who run
the internet. Fine sentiments reported by the Guardian from UK Culture Minister Ed Vaizey at the Internet
Governance Forum in Istanbul this week. They echo his speech to the ICANN meeting in London in June: "What governments shouldn’t be doing is attempting to manage
how the internet is run."
Fine sentiments, but does the UK government live up to
them?
Regrettably the UK government has not been immune from the
temptation to take powers over internet governance institutions. Sections 19 to 21 of the Digital Economy Act
2010 gave it power to take direct control of the .uk domain by putting a
manager into Nominet. The sections have
not been brought into force, let alone the powers exercised. But the government hardly needs to once the potential exists.
In the current interstate tug-of-war over global internet governance
every State accuses every other State of donning fig leaves to conceal self-interest. Here is an opportunity for the UK government to
plant a flag in the high ground, to say ‘We mean what we say. We have backed off, how about you?’
So make the bold move, repeal Sections 19 to 21 and issue the
challenge.
Or would the government backpedal?
We can hear it now. “Reserve powers, only to be deployed in the last resort in the interests of UK plc, the Secretary of State cannot use
them unless there is a serious failure in limited circumstances…” (See here the reasons put forward at the time the powers were legislated).