EU deal threatens end to US dominance of internet.

A dramatic last-minute deal drawn up by the EU may mark the end of the US
government's control of the internet.

The UK, acting as European representative, stunned delegates from around the
world during a late-night session on Wednesday when it produced a series of
paragraphs that effectively outlined the end of the US-created internet infrastructure.
It called for a "new co-operation model" that would not only oversee public
policy matters but also create procedures for changing the internet's 
"root zone file", managers of country domains (such as .uk or .de), create a
new arbitration service for the internet, and produce rules to cover the domain
name system (DNS).

In essence, a new version of the current overseeing body ICANN and an end to
the US government's overall control of the DNS.

The US was scathing about the proposals, within minutes telling delegates that
it "can't in any way allow any changes" that would prevent it from having overall
control of the internet.

The next day, the US ambassador David Gross remained equally unimpressed.
"It seems to me to be a potentially historic shift in policy by the European 
Union - to be a much more top-down, 'governments should control technical aspects
of the Internet' approach," he told us. "Something that as you know is not the
policy of the United States."