Who "ruled" the Internet?

For some time the resources and standards of the Internet have been administered successfull by the "Internet Community" especially by  the ICANN, which manages, amongst other things, the top-level domain and IP address assignments and has responsiblities similar to as in the standardisation bodies The Internet Society ( ISOC) and the World Wide Web Consortium ( W3C).

The self-management of the Internet has led to an unprecedented growth in the number of users and the network itself. Therefore, the Internet has in recent years become the primary data and communications network, and the importance of the Internet as a social and economic platform is wholly evident.

Internet Governance was established by the UN Working Group on Internet Governance ( WGIG) as "the development and application by governments, the private sector and civil society in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, procedures for decision making and programs for the correct use of the Internet are further defined. "As a common platform for discussion, the Internet Governance Forum ( IGF) was established to discuss the many problems of the  Internet with regards to emerging issues of openness, security, diversity and access to the Internet.

eco strives to be an Association of the German Internet Industry for the continuation of successful self-management and encourage policies and enterprises and all other "stakeholders" of the Internet to engage in the relevant fora in which the future of the Internet is being shaped.

eco itself is a founding member of the Constituency ISPCP with ICANN and eco representatives have regularly attended the IGF annual consultations, since the first meetings, and will continue to do so.