About 170 countries on Sunday kicked off a final round of negotiations on the controversial issue of control of the Internet and the core technical infrastructure that allows it to operate seamlessly world-wide.
The issue, which has been under discussion for at least three years, is broadly pitting the United States against other countries that want to reduce Washington's potential to control the global public computer network.
The preparatory talks attracted more negotiators than expected, and are likely to carry on through the three-day World Summit for the Information Society beginning on Wednesday, said Sarah Parkes, a spokeswoman for the organisers, the UN's International Telecommunications Union.
After a general meeting, the countries were due to break up into working groups of about 40 countries on Monday in an attempt to reach agreement during the summit.
The technical management of the Internet is currently overseen by the US-based International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which allocates and manages the country domain names (.cn, .uk) as well as the technical roots that underpin the global network.