The United Nations is trying to figure out how to get its paws on the Internet and take over governance of cyberspace.

The good news, for now, is that it can’t decide on how to do it. Via Declan McCullagh:

A United Nations working group has published a long-awaited report that effectively challenges US supremacy over internet domain names.

The report says “no single government should have a pre-eminent role in relation to international internet governance” – which runs directly contrary to the Bush administration’s position announced last month.

But the UN group couldn’t decide what should be done about it. Instead of reaching a consensus, the nations participating in the discussions listed four possible options ranging from modest changes to creating an entirely new ‘Global Internet Council’ under the auspices of the United Nations.

One British MP, Derek Wyatt, who follows Internet regulation says we should breathe a little easier:

“We should be eternally grateful that the UN has failed to reach agreement, it’s the last thing we want,” he told ZDNet UK. “It would be singularly inappropriate for that mid-20th century body, which is badly in need of a total refit, to take on anything as radical as Internet governance.”

Investor’s Business Daily has an excellent editorial today reviewing the U.N.’s attempted power grab and concludes:

Given its record of mismanagement and corruption, the U.N. shouldn’t be handed the keys to the Internet. It’s too precious a resource. We need look only as far as the oil-for-food scandal — possibly the largest fraud in history — for evidence as to why this is true.

Giving the U.N. control over the Internet would be giving it control over the future — which rightly belongs to entrepreneurs, inventors and dreamers, not faceless bureaucrats who can scarcely conceal their loathing for the free-market success the U.S. represents.

Keep your hands off, Kofi.