The European Union is poised to increase its already swelling world influence. Recently, it has attempted to wrestle away control of the global Domain Name System from the Internet community and place it within a governing body.

Domain name systems assign a Web address, such as www.iastate.edu rather than the IP number such as 129.255.255.X. This is a core technical management function of the Internet that is lightly controlled by governments around the world, except for a few countries that keep a tight lid on Internet usage.

The EU, after a two-week conference on the Internet and technology, has called for world governments to regulate and gain more control over the Internet through DNS. By doing this, the EU has aligned its Internet policies with such countries we typically associate with tight control of media and Internet such as China and Iran.

DNS should remain free and lightly regulated, but that is beside the point. Why is the EU calling for more bureaucracy for a system that already works and performs fine? As the old adage goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

The Internet is typically seen as lightly regulated and a place where users are free to roam. Free from regulation and open to the power of the markets, the Internet is an informational tool that should remain free from governmental regulation.

One of the main reasons the EU wanted to regulate DNS is that it claims that the United States has control of it. While most of the organizations and companies that regulate DNS are located within the United States, they do not have absolute control.

Again, the system has worked thus far. The EU failed to give any reason, other than to supposedly wrest control out of American hands, for increased governmental control.

DNS and the Internet have been growing by enormous proportions. The EU has proposed regulating something that does not need to be regulated, and is trying to place tight restrictions and take away one of the reasons the Internet became so popular in the first place.

American or not, the Internet has proven to be one of the most egalitarian and effective forms of communication in the 21st century. The proponents of this change in the system must give a stronger rationale for tampering with a good thing.

History has shown that increased government control over communications has led to disastrous results.

Keep DNS the same. The EU shouldn’t be so eager to take away Internet freedom or try to gain more control, without any expressed intentions of helping the system.