US government cedes control of the Internet to global community

[American_Jihad]

This is a stupid idea...

US government cedes control of the Internet to global community​

March 16, 2014 by Michael Dorstewitz

The good news is the federal government will give up all control over much of what makes the Internet properly function. The bad news is that control is being transferred to the “global Internet community” that could weaken security and even open users up to an Internet tax.

The U.S. Commerce Department announced Friday that control will be transferred when current contracts expire in the fall of 2015, according to The Daily Caller, which reported:

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has overseen domain names, assigned Internet protocol addresses, and executed other crucial Internet functions since 2000 under the supervision of the Commerce Department. Basically, it’s the map that points computers to the servers and websites their users are looking for.

The decision was made in response to mounting pressure from the international community, which escalated after the disclosure of spying was made public by former National Security Agency contract worker Edward Snowden.

“The timing is right to start the transition process,” assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information Lawrence E Strickling said, according to Forbes. “We look forward to ICANN convening stakeholders across the global internet community to craft an appropriate transition plan.”

Nothing good can come of this according to a former Bush administration State Department senior advisor.

“U.S. management of the internet has been exemplary and there is no reason to give this away — especially in return for nothing,” Christian Whiton told The Daily Caller. “This is the Obama equivalent of Carter’s decision to give away the Panama Canal — only with possibly much worse consequences.”

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, is the Internet’s core element that allows it to function. And it has done so pretty much seamlessly for well over a decade.

“While the Obama administration says it is merely removing federal oversight of a non-profit, we should assume ICANN would end up as part of the United Nations,” Whiton said. “If the U.N. gains control what amounts to the directory and traffic signals of the Internet, it can impose whatever taxes it likes. It likely would start with a tax on registering domains and expand from there.”

...

US government cedes control of the Internet to global community - BizPac Review

 

[Jroc]

Obama ceding American power and influence to the "Global community was else is new.

 

[Roudy]

It's part of Obama's plan to transform this country into a third world socialistic state.

 

[American_Jihad]

It's part of Obama's plan to transform this country into a third world socialistic state.

It's like giving nasa to the UN, oh, I forgot he shut the shuttle down...

 

[Jroc]

It's part of Obama's plan to transform this country into a third world socialistic state.

It's like giving nasa to the UN, oh, I forgot he shut the shuttle down...

Don't worry, we can count on the Russians to get us into space

 

[Roudy]

It's part of Obama's plan to transform this country into a third world socialistic state.

It's like giving nasa to the UN, oh, I forgot he shut the shuttle down...

Don't worry, we can count on the Russians to get us into space

After they invade us. LOL

 

[Amelia]

I forgot the Russians were our ride to the space station.



Awwwkwwwwwaaaarrrrd

 

[Roudy]

It's part of Obama's plan to transform this country into a third world socialistic state.

It's like giving nasa to the UN, oh, I forgot he shut the shuttle down...

He's also cutting the military drastically. Piece by piece he's stripping down what makes America a great country.

 

[Politico]

Holy week old story Batman!

 

[American_Jihad]

Holy week old story Batman!

O tay robin...!

 

[guno]

It's part of Obama's plan to transform this country into a third world socialistic state.

It's like giving nasa to the UN, oh, I forgot he shut the shuttle down...

Actually it was bush the lesser who cut the funding for the shuttle The Space Shuttle program was extended several times beyond its originally envisioned 15-year life span because of the delays in building the United States space station in low Earth orbit — a project which eventually evolved into the International Space Station. It was formally scheduled for mandatory retirement in 2010 in accord with the directives President George W. Bush issued on January 14, 2004 in his Vision for Space Exploration

 

[American_Jihad]

It's part of Obama's plan to transform this country into a third world socialistic state.

It's like giving nasa to the UN, oh, I forgot he shut the shuttle down...

Actually it was bush the lesser who cut the funding for the shuttle The Space Shuttle program was extended several times beyond its originally envisioned 15-year life span because of the delays in building the United States space station in low Earth orbit — a project which eventually evolved into the International Space Station. It was formally scheduled for mandatory retirement in 2010 in accord with the directives President George W. Bush issued on January 14, 2004 in his Vision for Space Exploration

I know, I should have used the word LET instead of shut. Obongo could have extended it with one of his many executive orders, let the russians give us a lift, bad idea...

 

[American_Jihad]

As the U.S. government relinquishes control, who should oversee the Web?

March 24, 2014 at 6:39 PM EDT

The Commerce Department recently announced it would give up oversight of ICANN, the California nonprofit that manages the unique domains of the world's websites and email servers. There's been international pressure to make the change, especially in light of revelations about NSA surveillance. Vint Cerf of Google and Randolph May of the Free State Foundation join Judy Woodruff to offer debate.

...

TRANSCRIPT

JUDY WOODRUFF: Who controls the World Wide Web, and how is it overseen and governed? These are the questions that most of us don’t really know the answers to, but the Obama administration announced a change in the role played by the United States, one that’s stirring up concerns about the Internet’s future and freedom from censorship.

FADI CHEHADE, CEO, ICANN: To become the world’s ICANN, we have to go to the world.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Change was in the wind as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN, kicked off a meeting in Singapore this weekend, its purpose, to start crafting a transition from U.S. control of administration of the Internet.

Since 1998, the California nonprofit has had a federal contract to manage the unique identifiers of the world’s Web sites and e-mail servers, regulating domain names such as dot-com and dot-gov.

Fadi Chehade is CEO of ICANN.

FADI CHEHADE: It’s been envisaged from the first day of ICANN’s creation that, at some point, at some point, when ICANN and the global community were deemed ready to carry on in their activities without the oversight of the U.S. government, that the U.S. government will let go of its unique involvement in the affairs of ICANN.

JUDY WOODRUFF: There’s been international pressure to make the change, fueled lately by the backlash over National Security Agency surveillance.

Then, on March 14, the Commerce Department announced plans to hand off supervision of ICANN to a new international entity. It drew some skeptical comments across the U.S. political spectrum, from Sarah Palin to former President Bill Clinton.

...

Who should oversee the Web?

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - Al Gore invented it, it oughta be ours...

Sparks fly over US plan to shift role of Internet
Mon, Apr 07, 2014 - ‘AMERICAN VALUES’: Some critics said the proposal that would see the US relinquish its key oversight role over the Internet poses a threat to online freedom and commerce

It could be a difficult breakup between the US government and the Internet. A plan unveiled last month would see the US relinquish its key oversight role for the Internet, handing that over to “the global multistakeholder community.” US officials say the move is part of a longstanding effort to privatize the technical oversight of the Internet. However, it comes amid growing international pressure for Washington to step back from what some countries claim is a dominant role in the Internet. Tensions have been exacerbated by the outcry over leaked documents showing the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) vast surveillance capabilities, feeding concern that the US manipulates the Internet for its own purposes. However, some critics argue that Washington is “giving away” the Internet, posing long-term threats to online freedom and commerce.

US Representative Marsha Blackburn contends that the US shift “will allow countries like China and Russia, that don’t place the same value in freedom of speech, to better define how the Internet looks and operates.” Some observers say the US is seeking to avoid the more extreme step of handing control over to a more politicized body, such as an arm of the UN. “There have been a lot of fairly wild suggestions of how Internet governance should be changed,” US lawyer Greg Shatan said. Shatan participates in working groups of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit organization that took over some of the functions in 1997 under an agreement with the US government.

In late 2012, a group of countries voted against the US on a telecom treaty Washington said could open the door to regulation of the Internet by the UN’s International Telecommunications Union. “A lot of these governments are not looking for a free and open Internet,” Shatan said. However, the US announcement calling for a new oversight system by September next year blunts that effort and could help bring “swing states” back in line with Washington, Shatan said. US Department of Commerce official Lawrence Strickling, who heads the key unit in charge of the Internet, said at a forum on Friday that Washington is handing over what is “largely a clerical task” in verifying the accuracy of the Internet’s so-called root zone. And he added that “nothing will happen unless we have a consensus” on governance that also meets the US criteria of avoiding a government-led or intergovernmental plan.

Former US telecom regulator Robert McDowell, a Hudson Institute fellow, worried the decision might create a void. “The worst-case scenario would include foreign governments, either directly or through intergovernmental bodies, snatching the soon-to-be untethered technical functions for their own purposes,” McDowell said in a blog. Information Technology & Innovation Foundation analyst Daniel Castro says in a report that without US overnight, “ICANN would not be accountable to anyone, and would be motivated only by the interests of those individuals who control the organization.” The change sought by Washington would end the US role in what is on the surface, a dull, technical responsibility. However, these issues can become controversial, such as establishing new domains like .corruption, .amazon and the adult-oriented .xxx. During a visit to the US capital, ICANN president and chief executive Fadi Chehade told lawmakers he saw no change in the way the Internet would operate.

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