The New York Times yesterday published an editorial on internet governance and the WSIS. It basically supports the US government position that control of the root server resources should remain with ICANN under the supervision of the US Department of Commerce.
In the editorial the Times expresses the same fears that transferring control of the root over to an international body could lead to censorship:
Ideally, perhaps, a single nation should not control the essential workings of the Internet – notably the regulation of who gets which name and what the various “dot” addresses mean. But United States control is working. One suggestion, to switch control to the United Nations, would mean too many cooks in the kitchen, with several of the most interested chefs being of the unsavory sort, like China and Iran. China’s model for the Internet includes filters, censorship and – recently, with the shameful help of Yahoo – surveillance leading to arrest.
At the same times, the New York Times cautions the US government to not “improperly lobby” ICANN given its privileged position, to show to the world that it is a trustworthy steward of the Internet.