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(CNSNews.com) -- It would be better to retain U.S. control over the Internet than to allow rights abusers such as China and Iran to have a say in regulating the web, a leading press freedom group said.

The thorny issue of who controls the Internet is set to dominate next week's global Internet summit, sponsored by the United Nations and hosted by Tunisia.

Preparatory talks have set the stage for a standoff between the U.S., which has historically overseen the Internet with minimal government involvement, and other nations that want an end to the status quo.

A group of developing nations, including China, Cuba, Iran and Brazil, is pressing for the U.S. to cede control to the U.N., while the European Union has proposed as an alternative a new, multilateral arbitration and dispute resolution forum.

U.S. officials have rejected the proposals, and a French government official was quoted as saying on Thursday that France did not expect the U.S. to back down at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which runs Nov. 16-18.

"It is possible that we only reach a consensus [in Tunisia] on the fact that discussions need to be pursued," Jean-Michel Hubert told a press conference.

Currently, a private-sector group in California called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) supervises the Net, assigning domain names and addresses.

Although countries like China demand an end to what it calls America's "monopoly," in reality ICANN's 15 voting board members include four each from Latin America and Asia Pacific, two each from Africa and Europe, and three from North America.

Its president is an Australian and staff from 13 countries work on three continents. Moreover, an ICANN governmental advisory committee, which meets 3-4 times a year, is open to representatives of all national governments.

"Advice provided by the [advisory committee] is taken seriously, and should the board reject advice, it must state why," ICANN said in a statement over the summer.

'Leave things as they are'

A U.N. working group on Internet governance, set up to make proposals ahead of the summit, has suggested several possible models for the future, including a Global Internet Council "anchored in the United Nations."

Such a body, "consisting of members from governments with appropriate representation from each region ... would take over the functions relating to international Internet governance currently performed by [ICANN]," the group said in a report released in July.

Those who oppose U.N. or other multilateral control note that some of the governments pushing hardest for a change are also the world's most repressive when it comes to preventing free speech on the Internet.

"Do we really want the countries that censor the Internet and throw its users in prison to be in charge of regulating the flow of information on it?" the independent media group Reporters Without Frontiers (RSF) asked Thursday, citing China, Cuba and others.

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