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In less than two months the U.S. Department of Commerce will hand over control of the Internet to international authorities:
The department will finalize the transition effective Oct. 1, Assistant Secretary Lawrence Strickling wrote on Tuesday, barring what he called "any significant impediment."
The move means the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, which is responsible for interpreting numerical addresses on the Web to a readable language, will move from U.S. control to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a multistakeholder body based in Los Angeles that includes countries such as China and Russia.
The move is not without its critics. In a letter to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker penned last week and signed by Republican senators Ted Cruz of Texas, James Lankford of Oklahoma, and Mike Lee of Utah, they stated:
"The proposal will significantly increase the power of foreign governments over the Internet, expand ICANN's historical core mission by creating a gateway to content regulation, and embolden [its] leadership to act without any real accountability."
[...] "We have uncovered that ICANN's Beijing office is actually located within the same building as the Cyberspace Administration of China, which is the central agency within the Chinese government's censorship regime," the trio wrote, noting that some of the American companies involved with the transition process had already "shown a willingness to acquiesce" to Chinese demands that they assist with blocking content in the country.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by fritsd on Thursday August 18 2016, @11:07AM
"The proposal will significantly increase the power of foreign governments over the Internet, (...)"
yes. I don't know if this is good or bad. However, it is the Internet. As in: the whole world's Internet. Just as long as it's not only the DPRK, UK and Iran in the commission.
"(...) expand ICANN's historical core mission by creating a gateway to content regulation, (...)"
OK, from this I conclude that US senator Ted Cruz and his fellow two senators are against content regulation. That is commendable, and good to know.
They wouldn't want an "UK Internet" where the government maintains a filter, and if you request to the government that you'd please want to access all the porn sites and other stuff the government has blocked (such as obscenity; definition: stuff that is against the current government, according to the current government. e.g. the chaos computer club), the government will heed your request and grant you full access.
And put *YOU* on a special list. So that they'd remember that they have to keep your connection uncensored, you know.
link: https://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/guides/security/protecting-children-online [broadbandchoices.co.uk]
quote (from september 2015):
Just wait until after Brexit; prime minister May wants to drag the UK out of the Human Rights Conference, so that all that EU mandated "freedom of speech" can be scrapped.
Link: Reporters sans frontières "enemies of the Internet" list 2014 [rsf.org]
"(...) and embolden [its] leadership to act without any real accountability."
I seriously thought that the ICANN is already acting without any real accountability or responsibility, by making all those ridiculous top-level domains for money. How could an ITU-governed ICANN possibly do any worse w.r.t. accountability? Serious question. If they do almost *nothing* but hold meetings, it sounds like an improvement.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @01:26PM
The issue at hand isn't about a change to ICANN's governance, but about IANA becoming subject to ICANN's governance.
Today, ICANN controls domain names. Come October, ICANN will also control IP addresses.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Thursday August 18 2016, @04:13PM
OK, from this I conclude that US senator Ted Cruz and his fellow two senators are against content regulation. That is commendable, and good to know.
BWHAHAHAHLAHA! Good one.
But seriously. They are all for content regulation... American content regulation. Though they really are not giving up anything here. Countries can still use their current justice systems to attack servers on their soil, and not ones on foreign soil without help. This change makes nothing freer or not.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday August 18 2016, @04:48PM
K, from this I conclude that US senator Ted Cruz and his fellow two senators are against content regulation. That is commendable, and good to know.
Ted Cruz: Net neutrality is 'Obamacare for the Internet'.