EU aims to claw back internet influence from US

Europe must pave the way for future governance in light of NSA scandal, European Commission claims

The European Union (EU) is on a mission to wrest back control of internet governance from the US in light of the recent NSA internet surveillance scandal.

In a report released today, the EU said it will play the role of an "honest broker" in future global negotiations and said it must get more involved in shaping the internet's future.

"The next two years will be critical in redrawing the global map of internet governance," said European Commission vice president Neelie Kroes. "Europe must contribute to a credible way forward for global internet governance. Europe must play a strong role in defining what the net of the future looks like."

Last summer, the US National Security Agency (NSA) was accused of working with top tech vendors such as Microsoft and Apple to spy on non-US users' data, prompting calls from European politicians and cloud firms for more stringent control of local data privacy.

"Our fundamental freedoms and human rights are not negotiable. They must be protected online," added Kroes today.

The Commission laid out its plans to claw back power from the US, including the creation of an Internet Governance Forum and an online platform dedicated to internet transparency. It said key decision making on the internet's future must be a global decision.

Last year, US-based firm ICANN - which controls domain names such as ".com" - laid out plans to introduce domain titles such as ".cloud" or ".book" depending on the nature of the site. The plans sparked uproar among cloud firms worried that such a move would price smaller firms out of the market and make them appear less legitimate than deep-pocketed rivals who could afford the name.

In its report today, the EU insisted that making decisions like this should be a global effort and not one which rests purely with US authorities.

"Some are calling for the International Telecommunications Union [United Nations group in charge of internet governance] to take control of key Internet functions," added Kroes.

"I agree that governments have a crucial role to play, but top-down approaches are not the right answer. We must strengthen the multi-stakeholder model to preserve the internet as a fast engine for innovation."