'Father of internet' NZ-bound

David Cunliffe and Kerry Prendergast take to surfboards to promote the ICAAN conference. Picture / Mark Mitchell

Vint Cerf, the "father" of the internet, will be among the luminaries at a major international internet conference in Wellington next month.

The city is for the first time hosting a convention by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the non-profit organisation responsible for overseeing much of the internet's behind-the-scenes functions.

The conference, which runs from March 27 to 31, will see more than 700 delegates from 90 Governments meet to discuss issues including spam, cyber-crime and identity theft.

Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast and Communications Minister David Cunliffe announced the event yesterday by straddling surfboards, suggesting that delegates would be "surfing" their way to New Zealand.

Cunliffe said New Zealand had won the conference "because it's such a fabulous country". The net result "is that there will be about 800 geeks arriving in Wellington in March".