Senior members of the US House of Representatives have defended their government’s insistence that the US retains control of the internet.
In a letter to US Commerce and State Department officials, the politicians said the Bush administration should retain root control of the internet domain name system, and specifically the root servers that guide traffic to addresses for all the top-level domains, such as .com and country code domains like .uk.
"Given the internet's importance to the world's economy, it is essential that the underlying domain name system of the internet remains stable and secure," the letter said.
It went on, "As such, the United States should take no action that would have the potential to adversely impact the effective and efficient operation of the domain name system. Therefore, the United States should maintain its historic role in authorising changes or modifications to the authoritative root zone file."
The letter is signed by two Republicans and two Democrats, including Joe Barton, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Fred Upton, chairman of the sub-committee on Telecommunications and the internet.
The European Union and other nations are demanding that the US share responsibility for the domain name system with the United Nations.
Officials on both sides of the debate are set to meet over the issue at a UN-sponsored summit in Tunisia.
A copy of the politicians’ letter can be read here: