Talks over global internet regulation collapse

An attempt to establish global oversight of the internet has collapsed after many Western countries said a compromise plan gave too much power to United Nations and other officials.

Delegates from the US, Britain and other countries took to the floor at a UN conference in Dubai to reject a treaty governing international phone calls and data traffic.

While other countries will sign the treaty, the absence of so many of the largest economies means that the document, already watered down to suit much of the West, will have little practical force.

"It's with a heavy heart and a sense of missed opportunities that the US must communicate that it's not able to sign the agreement in the current form," said Terry Kramer, the US representative at the UN's International Telecommunication Union.

Though technologists who had raised alarms about the proceedings preferred no deal to one that would have legitimised more government censorship and surveillance, the failure to reach an accord could increase the chance that the internet will work very differently in different regions.