Last month, thousands of government representatives （代表） and information experts met in Tunis （突尼斯）, Tunisia to discuss the future of the Internet. The United Nations organized the World Summit on the Information Society to discuss Internet growth in developing nations. But the three-day meetings also developed into a struggle over who controls （控制） the Internet.
The Internet grew out of research paid for by the United States Defense Department （國防部） in the nineteen sixties and seventies. As a result, the United States government still has some control over it. In nineteen ninety-eight, the Commerce Department set up a non-profit organization to supervise the domain name system of the Internet's World Wide Web. The Web is a major service on the Internet. The group, based in California, is called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN （互聯(lián)網(wǎng)名稱與數(shù)字地址分配機(jī)構(gòu)）.
A domain name is a series of words separated by dots. It identifies an Internet Web site. ICANN also operates a list of Web site owners and approves （鑒別） new endings for Web addresses, such as dot-com, dot-net or dot-gov. The group guarantees that Internet users around the world do not visit different Websites using the same Web address.
For example, thanks to ICANN, a person in Cuba will see the same voaspecialenglish.com Website as someone in Belarus. ICANN also has some Internet policy powers. It can remove Web sites from the Internet. It also decides who can sell and list domain names.
The European Union, China, Brazil （巴西）, India and other countries want the United States to release at least some control over the World Wide Web. They believe that the Internet is an international resource （資源） that should be supervised by the United Nations or some other independent organization. The Bush Administration disagrees. It says that ICANN is the best way to guarantee an open, secure and dependable （可靠的） online environment. Heavy governmental controls, it says, would suppress Internet growth and development.
Hours before the start of the Tunis conference, negotiators （談判代表） agreed to leave day-to-day supervision of the Internet with ICANN. The compromise （折衷） proposal from the European Union calls for the creation next year of an international governance committee.
Governments, businesses and organizations will be able to discuss public policy issues, including Internet crime, junk mail （垃圾郵件） and viruses （病毒）. The committee, however, will not have powers to make rules.
The World Future Society estimated last year that about nine hundred fifty million people around the world were using the Internet. That number is expected to rise to more than one thousand million people within the next two years.
Most Internet communication is business-to-business, instead of personal electronic mail. Buying and selling goods and services over the Internet is growing around the world. The World Future Society estimates （估計(jì)） that two-point-seven million million dollars was earned through Internet commerce last year. But, there are risks involved with this e-commerce.
For example, the Federal Trade Commission estimates that more than fifty-two thousand million dollars in goods and services were purchased last year through identity theft. Identity thieves steal personal information from Americans. They collect Social Security numbers, banking records and telephone numbers. They use this information to request loans （貸款）, or to get credit cards （信用卡） in the name of the victim.
Identity thieves often use computer viruses to collect a victim's personal information. They may also use spyware. These are programs that are loaded onto a computer without the owner's knowledge. Spyware follows the computer user's online activities. Identity thieves also use another method called Internet “phishing.” These e-mail messages attempt to collect （收集） an Internet user's personal information, such as credit card numbers, by acting like a real business.
People can protect themselves from identity theft in several ways. Anti-virus and anti-spyware computer programs can help. So can firewalls. These are programs or devices that limit information coming through an Internet connection. Banks and individuals can also use Fob technology. A fob is a small device connected to （連接到） a computer.
Every sixty seconds it creates a special series of numbers, or a code （密碼）. A computer user must type the code created at the exact minute that the user she wants to see his or her online financial information or bank records.
The Internet grew out of research paid for by the United States Defense Department （國防部） in the nineteen sixties and seventies. As a result, the United States government still has some control over it. In nineteen ninety-eight, the Commerce Department set up a non-profit organization to supervise the domain name system of the Internet's World Wide Web. The Web is a major service on the Internet. The group, based in California, is called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN （互聯(lián)網(wǎng)名稱與數(shù)字地址分配機(jī)構(gòu)）.
A domain name is a series of words separated by dots. It identifies an Internet Web site. ICANN also operates a list of Web site owners and approves （鑒別） new endings for Web addresses, such as dot-com, dot-net or dot-gov. The group guarantees that Internet users around the world do not visit different Websites using the same Web address.
For example, thanks to ICANN, a person in Cuba will see the same voaspecialenglish.com Website as someone in Belarus. ICANN also has some Internet policy powers. It can remove Web sites from the Internet. It also decides who can sell and list domain names.
The European Union, China, Brazil （巴西）, India and other countries want the United States to release at least some control over the World Wide Web. They believe that the Internet is an international resource （資源） that should be supervised by the United Nations or some other independent organization. The Bush Administration disagrees. It says that ICANN is the best way to guarantee an open, secure and dependable （可靠的） online environment. Heavy governmental controls, it says, would suppress Internet growth and development.
Hours before the start of the Tunis conference, negotiators （談判代表） agreed to leave day-to-day supervision of the Internet with ICANN. The compromise （折衷） proposal from the European Union calls for the creation next year of an international governance committee.
Governments, businesses and organizations will be able to discuss public policy issues, including Internet crime, junk mail （垃圾郵件） and viruses （病毒）. The committee, however, will not have powers to make rules.
The World Future Society estimated last year that about nine hundred fifty million people around the world were using the Internet. That number is expected to rise to more than one thousand million people within the next two years.
Most Internet communication is business-to-business, instead of personal electronic mail. Buying and selling goods and services over the Internet is growing around the world. The World Future Society estimates （估計(jì)） that two-point-seven million million dollars was earned through Internet commerce last year. But, there are risks involved with this e-commerce.
For example, the Federal Trade Commission estimates that more than fifty-two thousand million dollars in goods and services were purchased last year through identity theft. Identity thieves steal personal information from Americans. They collect Social Security numbers, banking records and telephone numbers. They use this information to request loans （貸款）, or to get credit cards （信用卡） in the name of the victim.
Identity thieves often use computer viruses to collect a victim's personal information. They may also use spyware. These are programs that are loaded onto a computer without the owner's knowledge. Spyware follows the computer user's online activities. Identity thieves also use another method called Internet “phishing.” These e-mail messages attempt to collect （收集） an Internet user's personal information, such as credit card numbers, by acting like a real business.
People can protect themselves from identity theft in several ways. Anti-virus and anti-spyware computer programs can help. So can firewalls. These are programs or devices that limit information coming through an Internet connection. Banks and individuals can also use Fob technology. A fob is a small device connected to （連接到） a computer.
Every sixty seconds it creates a special series of numbers, or a code （密碼）. A computer user must type the code created at the exact minute that the user she wants to see his or her online financial information or bank records.