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US to relinquish remaining control over the Internet

The Chauvinist

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...7472d0-abb5-11e3-adbc-888c8010c799_print.html

The Chauvinist: I wonder what this means. Will some UN agency eventually take control over the net? This is why I'm glad we're now seeing innovations like Namecoin. It's not enough, but a start.


U.S. officials announced plans Friday to relinquish federal government control over the administration of the Internet, a move that pleased international critics but alarmed some business leaders and others who rely on the smooth functioning of the Web. Pressure to let go of the final vestiges of U.S. authority over the system of Web addresses and domain names that organize the Internet has been building for more than a decade and was supercharged by the backlash last year to revelations about National Security Agency surveillance.

The change would end the long-running contract between the Commerce Department and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a California-based nonprofit group. That contract is set to expire next year but could be extended if the transition plan is not complete. We look forward to ICANN convening stakeholders across the global Internet community to craft an appropriate transition plan,” Lawrence E. Strickling, assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information, said in a statement.

The announcement received a passionate response, with some groups quickly embracing the change and others blasting it. In a statement, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) called the move “consistent with other efforts the U.S. and our allies are making to promote a free and open Internet, and to preserve and advance the current multi-stakeholder model of global Internet governance.”
 
I heard, but have not read on this yet, that they will not relinquish control to any other government. As an American, I would be very upset if the control were relinquished to anyone BUT the public. no government should have any say over it, not the UN, Not the EU, no Government period. It should be as decentralized as cryptos are!

Unfortunately, I don't trust the Obama administration to do anything correctly, so I am initially alarmed.
 
Alas, is it any better to hand it over to a corporation? ICANN did a pretty good job keeping the lights on - and I hope the plan is to hand it over to a non-profit.

Can you imagine Time Warner running the internet here?

And you are right about the current administration. :( For all the hype, they are clueless about the internet.
 
Oh no, I didn't intend to imply I'd want a corporation to take it over! I guess Namecoin may very well come back to life after all. I'm totally getting into this decentralized theme. For protecting our freedoms, that may be the only way!
 
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