Because they've done such a great job with everything else...
Let's let the U.N. run the internet (from The Economist-subscription required):
The battle moves to Geneva on November 23rd for the first meeting of the UN Working Group on Internet Governance. Tensions are inevitable among the 40 recently appointed delegates. Many countries are dissatisfied with the way the internet's technical standards are set, the policy for things such as domain names and valuable internet-protocol numbers (used by computers to connect online).
Today, the system is run by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The group was formed in 1998 by America with the help of business and the informal consent of other countries. Governments are represented by an impotent advisory committee.
Many countries complain that even though ICANN is expected to become independent in 2006, it will be placed on a private, industry-led footing rather than under the oversight of governments themselves. The UN group is thus an attempt to ease control of ICANN away from America and place the internet's underlying infrastructure on an intergovernmental basis, much like today's telephone system.
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