India's stand on Internet governance gets US backing

NEW DELHI: The US has backed India's stand on Internet governance, saying both countries share a common vision of ensuring every global citizen has a say in decision-making on the subject.

"I heard about your very well-received remark at the ICANN meeting in Argentina. As democracies, India and the United States share a joint vision for ensuring every global citizen can participate in decision making regarding Internet governance," US Under Secretary of State Catherine A Novelli said in an e-mail to Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

She expressed US keenness to work with the Indian government on the Digital India initiative.

The Minister, who could not attend the recent ICANN meet in Argentina, in a video message had said: "Every Indian must have the capacity to participate in global decision-making on how we manage this common resource - and so must every global citizen."

India has proposed that the Internet should be managed through a multi-stakeholder approach and the governments should have "supreme right and control" on matters relating to national security.

A committee on Internet governance, chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, has favoured the approach and decided that the country should try to collaborate with the US on the matter.

In written comments, India has opposed shifting Internet's management under ICANN, saying the new proposal runs the risk of placing complete reliance on internal accountability mechanisms.

ICANN, a non-profit organisation incorporated in California, currently coordinates, manages and implements worldwide Internet rules and policies by factoring in views of the global community.