An eleventh hour deal has avoided a potentially damaging split between the US and the rest of the world over control of the internet, after diplomats agreed to work towards enhanced international cooperation.
Negotiators said they had struck an agreement on key clauses on internet governance for endorsement during the World Summit on the Internet Society, which began in Tunisia today.
A three-year deadlock in preliminary talks until the final hours of Tuesday had revolved around the US's single-handed oversight of the private body that oversees the key technical and administrative roots of the global network.
Officials had warned that the internet could have been torn into competing or disconnected networks if the sometimes bitter split had continued.
The agreement set up two parallel tracks of multilateral talks, including an open-ended process 'towards enhanced cooperation' by 'relevant international organisations' on oversight and public policy issues.
The new process will be triggered by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in the first quarter of 2006, according to the final draft, but there is no target for an outcome.
Despite sharp criticism, the private, non-profit, Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was expected to have its tender renewed by the US government next summer, since nothing in the final draft ruled it out.
Countries such as Iran and China had sought UN oversight of ICANN or Internet governance, while the EU wanted to water down US powers, but the US firmly objected. The other track creates an Internet Governance Forum (IGF) for an initial five-year term to hold talks on all internet issues, including problems such as spam, cyber crime or computer viruses.
The IGF, which Greece has offered to host, will also be allowed to 'build on the existing structures of Internet Governance' but has no concrete powers.
