"Public authorities across the world must now be able, on an equal footing, to effectively carry out their roles and responsibilities when international public policy issues are at stake," Kroes said, welcoming the fact that ICANN, the organisation coordinating Internet IP addresses, was now reviewing its working methods to include more representatives from the developing world in 'advisory committees'.
Multilingualism online
ICANN's committee members are currently unelected and, despite being a non-governmental body, representatives have operated under a 'Memorandum of Understanding' with the US and are required to work in English.
A new agreement between the US and ICANN reached in October last year, hailed as proof of the organisation "going global" by its CEO Rod Beckstrom, was designed to see international representatives sit on review panels alongside with the US.
Lack of transparency has shrouded their nomination and functioning, however, leading Commissioner Kroes to call for "enhanced cooperation […] beyond just another round of consultations on the subject".
"I believe that it is of utmost importance that citizens now have the option to use scripts of their language for their domain names, email addresses and so on, just like in their everyday life," Kroes affirmed.
Kroes' calls for a more multilateral approach to Internet governance came at the IGF meeting, where 115 countries were represented.
The next meeting is due to take place in Kenya, something which Kroes saw as "reinforcing the diversity of perspectives towards Internet governance". Welcoming the rotation of the forum across geographic regions, "there is certainly room for even more outreach," she stressed.
Net 'neutrality'
The non-binding nature of the meeting is seen as being designed to encourage a more frank discussion over how developing countries can take on new control and responsibilities regarding the internet, but defining net neutrality remains difficult.
"You know my attachment to net neutrality," Kroes said. "The IGF is right to address issues such as security and privacy […], the need to ensure freedom of expression and combating the digital divide."
At the same time, Kroes wants greater state sovereignty over the Internet, calling for "each territory to decide for itself how it wishes to implement Internet developments".
The opening up of competition between access providers can be seen as offering the best possibility for avoiding barriers to the flow of information online, however.
China had earlier this year ordered Internet search engine Google to censor 'sensitive searches' from its website, raising questions over the extent to which domain control should be handed over to Beijing.
