There’s been much scare-mongering about the upcoming ITU conference in which our Internet regulations will be up for debate. That’s not to say there is not much at stake. The chances of ICANN, the administrator of domains and IP addresses, to fall under governmental control, as some claim, are slim. But the ITU is not known for an Internet style multi-stakeholder approach that takes input from academia, the private sector, and other non-government groups. So there are concerns.
A few months ago, Vint Cerf the true father and architect of the Internet, shared his views on the ITU, ICANN, and the value of decentralized, non-hiearchical structure. His testimony says it best.
To summarize, the US will need to engage with the ITU and improve international representation on ICANN. The ITU will need to open up their decision making to the non-governmental world.