The World Summit on the Information Society originally was 
conceived to raise consciousness about the divide between 
the haves and have-nots, and to raise money for projects 
to link up the global village, particularly Africa and 
Asia and South America.

But instead, it was overshadowed by a lingering resentment 
about who should oversee the domain names and technical issues that 
allow people from Pakistan to Peru surf Web sites for information, 
news and consumer goods. (Watch the debate on who will 
control the Internet -- 1:27)


"They have promised and promised and promised, and it's not 
the first time that they have promised this," said Diallo 
Mohamadou, a telecommunications consultant from Senegal. "In 2000, 
they promised to connect all the small villages far away from the 
big cities in Africa to the Internet. Five years later and 
nothing has happened."


Negotiators from more than 100 countries had agreed on the eve 
of the meeting to leave the United States in charge of the 
Internet's addressing system, averting a U.S.-EU showdown at 
this week's U.N. technology summit. But resentment over 
perceived U.S. control persisted.


Yoshio Utsumi, secretary-general of the International 
Telecommunications Union, which helped oversee the 
summit, said governments, private industry and others 
must follow through on agreements made this week.


