"American taxpayers, companies and government built the
Internet," Rep.Charles W. "Chip" Pickering Jr. (R-Miss.), a member of
the House Science Committee, said at a hearing last week. "This is
something uniquely American."
Ceding governance to a global body "is not going to sell
very well -- not here, not on Main Street," Pickering said.
That sentiment also has been expressed by the Clinton
administration. A top Commerce Department official, National
Telecommunications and Information Administration director Larry Irving,
told the panel that the White House doesn't want "bureaucrats in Brussels
or Geneva running the system."