A Russia-led coalition has withdrawn a proposal at the ITU WCIT to give governments new powers over the internet, Reuters reports. Russia, China and many Arab states made the proposal to include internet regulation in the International Telecommunication Regulations treaty, which is up for revisions at the Dubai conference. They want greater governmental control of the internet and have been pushing to expand the treaty beyond traditional telecom operators. The US, Europe, Canada and other advocates of a hands-off approach opposed the proposal, which could have allowed countries to block some internet locations and take control of the allocation of internet addresses currently overseen by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a self-governing organisation under contract to the US Department of Commerce. An ITU spokesman said this plan had now been scrapped. US ambassador Terry Kramer welcomed the decision to withdraw the plan. But he also said: "These issues will continue to be on the table for discussion in other forms during the remainder of the conference." The treaty talks are due to end on 14 December.
