{"id":80676,"date":"2016-10-03T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2016-10-03T11:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=80676"},"modified":"2016-10-03T10:37:16","modified_gmt":"2016-10-03T09:37:16","slug":"the-internet-was-just-taken-over-by-a-global-monopoly-and-no-one-even-noticed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/10\/the-internet-was-just-taken-over-by-a-global-monopoly-and-no-one-even-noticed\/","title":{"rendered":"The Internet Was Just Taken Over by a Global Monopoly, and No One Even Noticed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"internet-puppet\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On Saturday [1 Oct], the United States ceded oversight of one of the Internet\u2019s most basic and fundamental functions \u2014 the so-called \u201croot zone,\u201d which governs new domain names and addresses \u2014 handing it over to a small non-profit group by allowing a 47-year contract to expire.<\/p>\n

For decades, the U.S. Commerce Department held a contract<\/a> with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) \u2014 whose executives and board of directors must now report to an Internet \u201cstakeholder community,\u201d loosely comprised of academics, activists, engineers, government officials, and corporate interests.<\/p>\n

In theory, this advisory panel could revoke ICANN\u2019s authority entirely should it not live up to expectations \u2014 but all actions<\/a> \u201care supposed to be done by consensus.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the lapse of the contract, the U.S. fulfilled its objective to \u201cprivatize\u201d the Internet \u2014 something proponents claim would help bolster its integrity around the world. As the Internet rapidly expanded around the planet, many felt U.S. oversight anachronistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis transition was envisioned 18 years ago,\u201d said Stephen Crocker, board chairman of ICANN and an engineer who helped develop early Internet protocols, in a statement cited by<\/a> AFP<\/em>, \u201cyet it was the tireless work of the global Internet community, which drafted the final proposal, that made this a reality.<\/p>\n

This community validated the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance. It has shown that a governance model defined by the inclusion of all voices, including business, academics, technical experts, civil society, governments and many others is the best way to assure that the Internet of tomorrow remains as free, open and accessible as the Internet of today.<\/p>\n

But the move didn\u2019t come without vehement opposition, including from some U.S. lawmakers who felt giving up oversight could permit less scrupulous regimes to seize total or partial control of this vital Internet function \u2014 with potentially disastrous results.<\/p>\n

Attorneys general from Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Nevada staged a last-minute effort to intervene, by requesting a temporary restraining order which was heard in federal court in Texas on Friday. Despite their understandable fears the contract lapse would put the U.S. and the Internet in uncharted territory \u2014 and could threaten the integrity of .gov addresses and more \u2014 the judge denied their request.<\/p>\n

Opposition to handing oversight to ICANN has largely, but not entirely, come from the GOP. Sen. Ted Cruz asserted<\/a> this week after a failed attempt to halt the move by adding legislation to a funding measure,<\/p>\n

President Obama intends to give increased control of the Internet to authoritarian regimes like China, Russia, and Iran. Like Jimmy Carter gave away the Panama Canal, Obama is giving away the Internet.<\/p>\n

Technical experts say it isn\u2019t as simple as \u2018giving away\u2019 the Internet, since the U.S. didn\u2019t \u2018own\u2019 it in the first place; but placing control of the root zone \u2014 officially, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) \u2014 in the hands of ICANN does present pertinent questions.<\/p>\n

This little device delivers turnkey Internet privacy and security (Ad)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

As the Chicago Tribune<\/em> reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n

While the Internet itself was designed to function without a central authority, ICANN has played a small but crucial role since its founding in 1998 at the urging of the Clinton administration, replacing a program run under the authority of the Defense Department. ICANN oversees the process of assigning domain names and the underlying Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses, allowing users and anyone on the Internet to navigate to sites such as Washingtonpost.com. Private companies called registrars and approved by ICANN \u2013 such as GoDaddy.com or Name.com \u2013 sell the domain names to companies or individuals.<\/p>\n

ICANN\u2019s decisions haven\u2019t been without controversy, however, and the U.S. had the option of offering the contract to another entity.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody has to be responsible for this. This is a common space,\u201d<\/strong> explained Garth Bruen, a cybersecurity expert who sits on an ICANN advisory board, as quoted by the Tribune<\/em>. \u201cThere\u2019s no checks and balances anymore. . . . Before, there was a threat of accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as The Economist<\/a><\/em> noted, whoever controls the Internet\u2019s \u201caddress book\u201d also holds the power to censor \u2014 any domain name can be revoked and the website no longer found.<\/p>\n

Critics have also noted the eagerness of proponents of the transition, such as notorious globalist George Soros<\/a>, as an indicator ceding control should be considered more carefully \u2014 or at least delayed significantly to give the American public some say in the matter.<\/p>\n

Still, experts say such fears are wildly overblown.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is absolutely no way that this is going to imperil freedoms,\u201d asserted Matthew Shears, director of Global Internet Policy for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based advocacy group largely supported by the tech industry, per the Tribune. \u201cThere is absolutely no way that this is going to allow Russia or Iran or anybody to take control of the Internet. This has nothing to do with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether the transition will ultimately prove beneficial or detrimental likely won\u2019t be fully realized for some time.<\/p>\n

___________________________________<\/p>\n

Claire Bernish writes for TheFreeThoughtProject.com<\/a>, where this article first appeared<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 activistpost.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Saturday [1 Oct], the United States ceded oversight of one of the Internet\u2019s most basic and fundamental functions \u2014 the so-called \u201croot zone,\u201d which governs new domain names and addresses \u2014 handing it over to a small non-profit group by allowing a 47-year contract to expire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}