WSIS: U.S. to Stay in Charge...

um. well, yeah... whimper (not bang) decision out of tunis - link to full article.

i don't mean to belittle legitimate arguments for multilateralization of the internet (notwithstanding my cyncical october 6 post), but this was a political game from the outset (there's that cynicism again), lacking any real-world, near-time implementable (is that a word?) alternative. said it before, will say it again: i'm not terribly thrilled with the idea of any government mucking about with internet policy or governance, but, of course, we gotta acknowledge (and appreciate) the u.s. gov't's historical role in its creation and management. icann - imperfect as it may or may not be - has been a solid step in the privatization direction whereas the UNternet proposals would represent a few dozen steps back. at the risk of sounding pollyanna-ish (now i know that's not a word), why not strive for "withering away" of government control instead? (easy cynical answer: gee, it worked so well for the soviets). reality is, it's the best we can wish for as, further reality, the usg ain't likely to fully let go in any way other than rhetorically in any event (and at this stage, i'm, not sure that's all bad)...