Art credit: anunews.com
The
US is starting to relinquish its sovereignty. Politico reports:
The U.S. Commerce Department is relinquishing its hold over the
group that manages the Internet’s architecture amid pressure to globalize its
functions in the wake of reports about NSA surveillance.
The National Telecommunications & Information Administration,
a Commerce Department agency, said Friday it is transitioning the function to
the “global Internet community.” The decision marks a dramatic change. Since
the Internet’s inception, the United States has played a leading role in the
management of critical back-end Web work, including management of .com and
other domain names. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN) has performed those functions under U.S. Commerce contract since 2000.
. . .
Some U.S. officials have warned about the dangers of ceding
ICANN’s authority to the International Telecommunication Union, a United
Nations agency, fearing countries like Russia and China could use it to allow
online censorship. Congress unanimously passed a resolution ahead of a 2012 ITU
meeting, highlighting the U.S. commitment to keeping the Internet free from
government control.
Daniel Castro, a senior analyst at the Information Technology and
Innovation Foundation, disputed the connection between NSA revelations and
Internet governance in an op-ed Friday, and he warned that ICANN would not be
held accountable without U.S. control.
“If the Obama Administration gives away its oversight of the
Internet,” he said, “it will be gone forever.”
Some criticism of the decision immediately started popping up on
Twitter.
“Every American should worry about Obama giving up control of the
internet to an undefined group,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich tweeted
shortly after the announcement. “This is very, very dangerous.”
Read the rest here.
