Q. What is the purpose of the conference in Tunis?

A. The World Summit on the Information Society - or WSIS - which started today, is a UN-sponsored conference to try to develop internationally agreed principles for the future development of the internet.

In the first 15 years, the internet has grown in a largely unregulated manner, with just one or two privately run organisations taking reponsibility for some of the organisational aspects of the web - for instance, in the UK, Nominet, a private company, operates as the recognised registry for all web addresses that end ".co.uk". Nominet was never appointed to the position; it never had to bid for the job. But it has that task.

Now consider that same position, but globally. The most popular and famous domain names - those that end ".com", ".org" and ".edu", for instance - are all looked after by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, another private company, this time based in California. And therein lies the rub, since a number of countries have been lobbying to have such an important responsibility taken away from an American corporation.

Q. So is this dispute about technology, or politics, or freedom of speech?

A. There is an irony in that both sides argue that their preferred way of proceeding is to protect freedom of speech. One side, made up of many developing nations and some European states, says that the freedom of the internet is compromised if one company based in the American superpower, and with the backing of the US Government, can be in charge of managing such a fundamental aspect of the internet.

But the Americans, and others in favour of the status quo, point out that they are more likely to uphold free speech on the web than others, naming specifically China and Iran, countries which both have poor human rights records and which have both exercised filters nationally to prevent their citizens from fully accessing the internet.

Lawrence Lessig is a professor at Stanford Law School, and he sees the situation as simply political, an extension of other, recent trade disputes at the World Trade Organisation between the US and the EU. "It’s not particularly related to the internet," he said. "The Europeans are eager to stand up to the Americans, and that I think has been produced by the last five years of US foreign policy. It’s not really a cyberlaw problem."

Q. So what is likely to happen in Tunis?

A. Professor Lessig's view ahead of the conference was "The Europeans could get it together and actually invoke the authority to exercise control over internet governance, displacing the ICANN position. The Americans could find a way to buy them off. Or, there could be a stalemate."

Judging by this morning's early reports, it seems that the latter might be the case, albeit wrapped up in a typically diplomatic manner, with twin track talks, including an Internet Governance Forum, which is due to meet and talk over the next five years.

But Emily Taylor, of Nominet, spoke to our reporter, Rhys Blakely, this morning from Tunis, and took a much more optimistic view. "This is an extremely positive compromise," she said. "There are some concerns over how the Forum will operate, but we do now have the means for an evolutionary way forward.

"You have to remember that there were a lot of countries here who were determined to uproot a technical function that is quite limited in its scope but essential for the internet to continues, and it is a real relief that that is not happening. As Kofi Annan said when he addressed delegates here this morning, the day-to-day management of the internet must be 'shielded from the heat of politics'.

"There is a correlation between growth in the internet's reach and hands-off regulation, we see it in the US and the UK. It is not the same the world over. Stepping back from today's decision, it can be seen as a profound moment. There was a risk that the internet could have been bundled up in red tape."

To read the Lessig interview in full, click here.

Times Recommends

• C&G axed - 1,660 jobs to be lost
• UK house prices rise 1.1% as buyers return
• Mixed reaction to US banks repaying bailouts